Along Came a Spider-Gwen
by darthhillboy
Summary: It's 2022. Gwen Stacy has been Spider-Woman since 2019, and since then she and Peter have fought crime together. After a fight with Scorpion, Peter is arrested and his identity is revealed to the world. Soon after, Scorpion and Doc Ock start escalating their crimes and causing chaos, and Gwen must team up with Venom defeat them and free Peter. That's just the beginning.
1. Along Came a Spider-Gwen

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, only the story itself.

Gwen Stacy hung upside down from the underside of a fire escape, eating a burger with her mask pulled up to her nose. It wasn't the first time she'd done this, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

"Gwen, I'b nn psstn." A static-filled voice said in her ear.

"Dammit." Gwen adjusted her earbud with her finger. "Repeat that?"

"Gwen, I'm in position." Peter Parker's voice said in her ear.

Gwen looked up and saw Peter hanging on to the side of the building across the street. "About time."

"Yeah." Peter sighed. "How is it you changed out of your suit, stopped for fast food, changed back into your suit, and still beat me here?"

"Ha!" Gwen snorted, crumpling up her wrapper and dropping it into a garbage two stories below, then pulling her mask back over her mouth. "Who says I changed?"

She could practically hear his eyes widen. "You didn't."

"You should have seen the look on the cashier's face." Gwen laughed.

"Oh crap." Peter's voice turned serious. "Here they come."

Gwen watched as eight men in black masks exited the bank down below, climbed into the armored truck they had arrived in, and started driving.

"Three." Peter said.

"Two." Gwen continued.

"One!" They said in unison, then began firing web at each other's buildings as fast as possible, creating a web that grew rapidly, hitting the ground two stories down in a manner of seconds. The driver slammed on the brakes too late, and the truck hit the web, which stretched slightly but held strong. Gwen and Peter dropped to the ground, where they quickly covered the truck in webbing. Gwen attached a note that said "8 MEN INSIDE. THEY HAVE GUNS." She and Peter then swung away in different directions.

Later, Peter swung around a corner just in time to see a man get thrown out the window of an office building. Acting on instinct, Peter fired a web, grabbing the man, then fired a second web at the building above him, catching himself and the man with a slight bump. Peter lowered the man onto a fire escape, then started climbing up the building.

"Gwen, you there?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, loud and clear." Gwen replied. "What's up?"

"I just caught a guy who went out a window. Judging by the look on his face, he didn't jump."

"Where are you?" Gwen asked, sounding concerned.

"32nd and Plymouth. Big office building." Peter reached the broken window and looked in, where he saw a man with a cybernetic tail. "It's the Scorpion. Hurry."

"I'm three minutes out." Gwen said as Scorpion threw another man out the window.

Peter heard sirens approaching as he caught the man with a web and lowered him onto a fire escape. "Hurry." Climbing up and through the broken window, he saw Scorpion picking up a woman.

"Hey." Peter said as the sound of sirens grew louder. "Why don't you pick on a bug your own size?"

Scorpion smiled. "Okay." He set down the woman, then hit Peter with his tail before Peter could react. Peter twisted his body in the air and managed to cling to the ceiling, then fired a web. Scorpion blocked it with his tail. Dropping to the floor, Peter began firing web projectiles. Scorpion dodged most of them, and one of them flew down the hallway, where it hit a woman in the face and knocked her out of a cracked window.

"NO!" Peter cried out. He took off running, but Scorpion grabbed him and hurled him out the opposite window. Peter twisted himself in the air, firing a web at the building too late to stop himself from hitting the ground hard. Nothing was broken, but Peter had the wind knocked out of him. He lay there for the longest 20 seconds of his life before he was finally able to gasp for breath. He rose to his knees just in time to hear a woman shout "Freeze! Stay down!"

Peter felt a hand on his back push him down. Not bothering to resist, he put his hands behind his back, and a moment later felt handcuffs on his wrists.

"Peter, I'm 30 seconds out." Gwen said in his ear. "What's going on?"

"Don't." Peter gasped, still struggling to breathe. "Fall back."

"Who are you talking to?" A male cop asked.

"Peter, what's wrong?" Gwen asked. "Oh shit." Her voice filled with dread as she swung around the corner and saw what was going on.

"Go. Get out of here." Peter said.

"That's it." The female cop pulled Peter's mask off, and he looked at Gwen as she froze.

"Go!" Peter shouted.

Gwen bit her lip under her mask, fired her web, and fled.

Hours later, Gwen landed on the front porch of the Parker house, pulled her mask off, and knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" A voice inside asked.

"May?" Gwen asked, her voice shaking. "It's Gwen."

Peter's Aunt May opened the door, saw the look on Gwen's face, and hugged her. A tear rolled down Gwen's cheek as she embraced May.

"What happened?" May asked.

"Peter got arrested. As Spider-Man."

May's eyes widened. "Inside. Now."

The next morning, Gwen sat across from May, her bowl of cereal untouched.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." Gwen mumbled.

"Yeah." May replied. "Should you call your parents?"

"They're on vacation." Gwen stirred her cereal.

May took a sip of apple juice. "So what next?"

Gwen sighed. "I have to find the Scorpion. Now that Peter's out of the picture he'll be bolder, more aggressive."

May nodded. "Makes sense. How are you gonna find him?"

Gwen cocked her head. "He looks like a big four-legged scorpion. How hard can it be?"

Four days later, Gwen was swinging through the city when she saw a police car go flying down the street below her. She turned right and saw Scorpion tossing a cop onto a dumpster. Slinging a web, she went feet-first into a long arc, delivering a powerful kick that knocked Scorpion back into the building behind him. Gwen advanced on him, but her Spider-senses warned her to duck, and a metallic tentacle sliced through the air where her head had been. She blocked the second tentacle with her wrists, and the third grabbed her ankle and slammed her into the floor.

"Spider-Woman." Doc Ock said as he walked over to her. "I was wondering when you'd fi-"

He was cut off when Gwen fired a web projectile that covered his mouth. "Oh shut up." She said, leaping to her feet. She pivoted on her heel and kicked him in the chest, and a second later Scorpion's tail sliced across her back, leaving a deep gash. Gwen cried out in pain and stumbled forward, only to have Doc Ock slash her left thigh with one of his tentacle spikes. Gwen dropped to her knees, then screamed as Scorpion stabbed her through the right shoulder and lifted her into the air.

"Freeze!" A man's voice shouted. All three combatants looked up to see a dozen cops aiming rifles and shotguns at them. A black cop in the middle, the one who had spoken, stepped forward and said "Put. Her. Down."

Scorpion moved Gwen in front of him as a shield. The cop responded by firing a shot that missed Scorpion's left foot by an inch. "I'm not saying it again." The cop said.

Seeing movement in the corner of her eye, Gwen looked just as Doc Ock disappeared around the corner. Scorpion snarled and slammed Gwen to the ground, then turned and fled. As the black cop approached her, Gwen got to her feet, but her injured leg immediately buckled under her. She tried to get to her knees, and then the world went dark.

Gwen partially regained consciousness in the back of a police car.

"I-I ca…" She tried to speak.

"You'll be alright." The cop said from the front seat. "Hospital's only a couple minutes away."

Gwen nodded and closed her eyes.

She woke up in a hospital room. A calendar and clock on the wall told her it had been about 36 hours since her fight with Scorpion and Doc Ock. After a minute, the cop who helped her stepped inside.

"Morning." He said, sitting in a chair in the corner. "How are you feeling?"

Gwen sat up, causing the cut on her back to throb with pain. "I've been better." She said weakly.

He chuckled. "I bet. Jefferson Davis." He said, gesturing to his name tag.

"Gwen Stacy." She replied. It suddenly occurred to her that she was no longer wearing her suit.

"Did you tell anyone?" She asked.

Davis leaned forward. "No. Unlike some of the people I work with, I've got no problem with supers helping us out, as long as they're not hurting any innocent people."

Gwen realized what he was referring to. "You mean Spider-Man."

Davis nodded. "Officers found a woman who had fallen eight stories to her death with webbing on her face. In his statement, Peter said he was aiming for Scorpion but missed, and that Scorpion prevented him from saving her."

Gwen closed her eyes. "I couldn't get there in time."

"That doesn't make it your fault."

Gwen took a deep breath. "I know. But I still feel bad."

Davis shrugged. "That just means you have a conscience."

Gwen nodded. "So did you want something?"

Davis smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm just making sure you're okay. Oh, and I hope you have a backup suit, because I had to dispose of your bloody one. Wouldn't want anyone to run a blood sample and figure out your secret."

"Thanks."

Davis stood up. "Take care." He walked out, closing the door behind him.

Gwen sighed and closed her eyes.

A knock on the door woke her up. "Yes?" She asked.

"Miss Stacy?" The attendant poked her head in the doorway of Gwen's hospital room. "You have a visitor."

Gwen sat up, straightening her back and sending a flash of pain across the gash in her back. She winced. "Sure, come in."

A man with brown hair and blue green eyes stepped in carrying flowers and closed the door behind him.

"Look, I don't know if you like flowers or not, so I'll just put them over here." He said, setting them on a nearby table. "I don't know if you know who I am. My name is Eddie Brock."

Gwen recognized the name. "I've heard of you. You're a journalist."

Eddie shrugged. "Something like that."

"What do you want?" Gwen asked.

"Well," Eddie said. "I heard your friend Peter is in jail and that he's Spider-Man, and honestly I'm surprised more people haven't put two and two together and figured out you're Spider-Woman."

Gwen blinked. "Why would you think-"

Eddie put his hand up to silence her. "You don't have to lie to me. I get it. You keep your identity a secret to protect the people you care about. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. My secret's just as bad as yours anyway."

Gwen cocked her head, confused. "Your secret?"

Eddie took a deep breath and locked the door. "Screw it, I'm just gonna show you. Please try not to scream." As Gwen watched, black goo emerged from beneath Eddie's clothes and covered his entire body. Eddie now stood over seven feet tall and had milky white eyes with no pupils. He looked like some kind of monster.

"We are Venom." He said, his voice now much deeper.

More shocked than afraid, Gwen mumbled. "Um, hi."

The black goo retreated back into Eddie's clothes. "So yeah, I won't tell if you won't."

Gwen took a deep breath. "What do you want Eddie?"

Eddie chuckled. "Well, I don't know if you know this, but I kinda ruined Doctor Octavius' career when I exposed his big secret, so I'm pretty sure I indirectly created Doc Ock. Plus your buddy Peter is in jail, so you're one Spider person short, and I'm guessing you got those cuts from Doc Ock and Scorpion. I'm here to help."

Gwen considered this. "Honestly, I appreciate the offer. I could definitely use the help, but right now it hurts to move, so I'm not gonna be doing anything for a while."

Eddie took a step closer. "I might be able to help with that. See, Venom can heal my injuries, so I'm betting he could do the same for you."

Gwen thought about this for a moment. "Will it hurt?"

Eddie shrugged. "No more than it did when you got hurt in the first place. You're lucky you don't have any broken bones. Those hurt like hell to heal."

Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened her eyes. "What do I have to do?"

Eddie walked up to the bed. "Hold out your hand." He said softly.

Gwen complied. "Just don't cover my head if you don't have to."

"You heard her, buddy." Eddie said, presumably to Venom. "Ready?" He asked her.

Gwen nodded.

Eddie touched his fingers to hers, and the black goo slithered up her arm, then grew until it covered her body from her toes up to her neck. Her wounds stung as they healed, but she felt another sensation coursing through her body that overpowered the pain. She felt powerful. It felt good.

Just as quickly as it had started, it was over, and the black goo retreated down her arm and back up Eddie's. Gwen shuddered.

"Weird, right?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah." Gwen replied. "Like all my inhibitions just...vanished."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, Venom either can't lie or chooses not to, so it kinda rubs off on you."

Gwen smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem." Eddie said. "So, we can leave now, or I can wait until you get all signed out."

"Hold on." Gwen gulped, then pulled the sheets off of her and turned so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She hesitated, then bit her lip and slipped off the bed. She was surprised when her legs held her weight with no pain.

"You good?" Eddie asked.

Gwen nodded. "Yeah. I feel fine. Not sure why I'm so surprised."

Eddie checked his watch. "Probably because you were seriously injured two minutes ago."

Gwen let out a small laugh. "Sounds about right. Let's go."

They walked out of the hospital room and down the hallway. Eddie looked at Gwen and asked "So where's your outfit? I'm guessing you didn't bring it to the hospital."

Gwen sighed as the walked out the front door. "Yeah, we need to make a quick stop. Where's your ride?"

Eddie gestured toward a motorcycle. "Right there. I've got Venom, so the helmet's all yours."

Gwen hopped on, and Eddie pulled out of the parking lot.

"So!" Eddie shouted as they drove. "How do you expect to find Doc Ock and that Scorpion guy?"

"Not sure!" Gwen replied loudly. "Peter and I usually search different areas and talk with mics and earbuds!"

"Makes sense!" Eddie said. "So how are we supposed to find them?"

"I don't know!" Gwen thought for a moment. "Either we search the city block by block, or we let them find us!"

A lightbulb went off in Eddie's head. "I like the way you think!"

"What are you thinking?" Gwen shouted.

"You okay with being bait?" Eddie asked.

"Maybe!" Gwen shouted.

15 minutes later Eddie parked in front of Peter's house. They hopped off and walked up to the door.

"May?" She asked, knocking on the door. A moment later it opened.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon." May noticed Eddie standing behind Gwen. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, I'm Eddie Brock." Eddie held out his hand.

"May Parker." May shook his hand.

"She's Peter's aunt." Gwen explained. "She knows his secret and mine, so yours is safe."

"Oh." May smiled. "You have powers too?"

"Eh, something like that." Eddie said, making a so-so gesture with his hand.

May stepped to the side to let them in. "Well, come on in. I'm guessing you need something."

"Yeah." Gwen stepped inside, followed by Eddie. "My backup suit and those red lights Peter and I made."

May closed the door. "They're right where you left them sweetie."

"Thanks." Gwen started up the stairs.

"I'll wait down here." Eddie said. Gwen gave him a thumbs up.

After an uncomfortably long silence, May asked "So how do you know Peter and Gwen?"

"Oh, I don't know Peter." Eddie shuffled his feet. "I'm an investigative journalist. I saw Peter get unmasked on the news and figured Spider-Woman could use some help. I'm honestly surprised no one else has put two and two together about her given how close she and Peter are."

"Me too." May chuckled. "But I'm glad they haven't."

Eddie nodded. "They're lucky to have someone like you to confide in. Captain Stacy isn't the biggest fan of the Spider Duo."

May smiled. "George has a good heart, but he doesn't like people taking the law into their own hands. You have someone you can turn to?"

"Uh, yeah, my ex." Eddie replied. "We're not together anymore, but we're still friends, and I trust her more than I trust most people."

Gwen came down the stairs a moment later carrying her suit, two bags, and a cardboard box. "Found 'em."

"I'll leave you to whatever you're planning." May turned and walked into another room.

"What's in the box?" Eddie asked.

"Gwyneth Paltrow's head." Gwen replied as she set the box on the dining room table.

It took Eddie a couple seconds to get the joke. "Ha. Ha." He said sarcastically.

"I know, bad joke." Gwen said, opening the box.

"Yeah, plus that movie's like 20 years old." Eddie replied.

"Anyway." Gwen carefully tipped the box on its side, pouring out dozens of half-sphere objects about half the size of ping pong balls. "Peter and I made these a couple years ago as a basic alert system."

Eddie pulled back a chair and sat down. "Okay."

Gwen sat down across from him. "Basically it's a dim red light and a button with a GPS signal. They're all linked to this." She held up her phone. "And can only be deactivated from it. Pushing the little button makes them stick to a surface and activates the GPS. You place them around an area, and if any of them are removed, damaged, or tampered with, I get an alert on my phone."

Eddie nodded. "How many are there?"

Gwen shrugged. "Don't remember exactly. 200, give or take. Not enough to cover the whole city as well as I'd like, so we'll have to spread them thin."

Eddie shrugged. "I don't have a better idea. Let's bug the city."

Later that night, Gwen swung around a corner and landed on a wall. She crawled along until she reached a fire escape, pulled a small object out of the bag she was wearing, attached it to the underside of the fire escape, and swung away. She swung for several blocks, landed on a wall, and placed another small object on the bottom of a fire escape. She repeated this every few blocks until she reached the end of the street, then swung around the corner and started swinging in the opposite direction down the next street over. She continued doing this until she reached the abandoned warehouse near the center of the city they had parked Eddie's bike in. She landed on the roof and crouched down. A few moments later she saw Venom swing around the corner a few buildings down and run down the street, using his arms to run like a gorilla. He reached the warehouse and swung up to the roof, where he crouched down next to her. He removed his bag from his shoulder, and the black goo retreated into his clothes.

"They're in place." Eddie said. "Now we wait."

"Yep." Gwen pulled out her phone.

Eddie glanced at her phone. "Is that Infinity Blade?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, I have a couple friends who still play online."

"I haven't played that in forever." Eddie mumbled as he pulled out his phone.

Two hours later, Gwen and Eddie were in the middle of a particularly heated duel when Gwen got a notification.

"We got a bite!" She said excitedly, then look at Eddie. "This isn't over."

Eddie chuckled. "You're damn right it's not. Where are we going?"

"Hang on." Gwen zoomed in on the map. "Nine blocks east, two blocks north."

"We're doing Plan A, right?" Eddie asked as Venom covered his body.

"Yep." Gwen pulled her mask down. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, Gwen climbed up to the roof of a 3-story building and peered over the edge at an old hockey rink across the street. Firing a web at a light pole, she swung in a shallow arc, landing on the roof of the rink.

Alerted by her Spider-sense, she leaned to the side. A long metal projectile flew over her shoulder and imbedded itself in the roof. Gwen turned to see Scorpion on the roof of a 4-story building behind her. Gwen ducked, and a metallic tentacle snapped shut above her, grabbing nothing but air. She leapt over Scorpion as he tried to tackle her, and then one of Doc Ock's tentacles grabbed her by the throat.

"Spider-Woman." Doc Ock said. "We were wondering when you'd shoOOF!" He was cut off when Venom landed on the roof behind him and threw him across the roof. The tentacle released its grip on Gwen's neck, and she blocked Scorpion's tail with her forearms, then kicked him in the chest, knocking him back.

Nearby, Doc Ock slashed Venom's shoulder with one of his tentacle spikes. Venom roared and tackled Doc Ock through the roof. They spun in the air, and Doc Ock's tentacles broke his fall. Venom rolled as he hit the ground.

On the roof, Gwen dodged a swinging pincer, used a web to grab a piece of rubble, and hit Scorpion in the side with it. Scorpion stumbled back, and Gwen fired web projectiles at his face, blinding him. Scorpion roared in frustration, and Gwen kicked him into the hole in the roof, then jumped down after him.

In the rink, Doc Ock tried to stab Venom with a tentacle spike. Venom dodged the strike and grabbed the tentacle, then spun around and hurled Doc Ock across the rink. Gwen kicked Scorpion in the head and fired webbing at his tail, sticking it to the ground.

Then a lightning bolt came through the hole in the roof and struck Venom in the back. Venom shrieked in agony and retreated into a corner. As they watched, a man covered in electricity came down through the hole and hovered a foot above the ground.

"Electro?" Gwen asked in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Doc Ock asked. "We've got a group chat."

"This is bad." Venom said, coming up behind Gwen. "We don't like lightning."

"Fall back?" Gwen asked.

"Head for the river!" Venom turned and ran with Gwen right behind him. Doc Ock, Scorpion, and Electro chased after them.

Gwen reached the end of her arc and fired another web, narrowly avoiding a stinger fired by Scorpion. Below her, Venom leapt up onto the side of a building to avoid a lighting strike from Electro. Doc Ock had managed to get above her using several taller buildings. Reaching the end of the arc, Gwen twisted her body in the air so she was facing up and behind her, then fired webs at Doc Ock, grabbing him. She twisted her body again, yanking him off the side of the building. Seeing this, Venom leapt off the building he was on, intercepting Doc Ock in midair and tackling him to the ground. Before Doc Ock could recover, Venom grabbed his lower left tentacle and whipped it around, sending Doc Ock hurtling through the air straight into Electro and ripping off the tentacle in the process. Gwen twisted in the air to face down again and fired another web. As she swung, a stinger from Scorpion grazed her right calf. Behind them, Electro recovered and roared in frustration, firing a dozen bolts of lightning, two of which hit Venom, who shrieked in pain and hit the ground hard. Gwen fired a web at a light pole and swung 180 degrees, kicking Scorpion in the chest and knocking him back. She frantically spun a web between Electro and Venom, but the electrical man just burned through the web. Venom used his tendrils to grab at Electro, who dodged them. Meanwhile, Gwen jumped over Doc Ock's tentacle and kicked him in the face, only to have Scorpion grab her and slam her to the ground. Gwen leapt to her feet and blocked a tentacle from Doc Ock, then fired a web projectile at his face.

"Oh come on!" Doc Ock groaned.

Gwen grunted as she spun on her heel and kicked Doc Ock in the head, knocking him out cold. Down the street, Venom had several tendrils wrapped around Electro, but this was allowing Electro to shock him continuously. Gwen watched this for two seconds, but it was one second too long, as Scorpion used his tail to sweep her legs out from under her. Gwen landed on her back and reacted just in time to block Scorpion's tail before it stabbed her in the face. Scorpion pinned Gwen's legs with his own and pushed down harder with his tail. Gwen gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold it back. Her Spider-senses alerted her, and she pushed the tail over her head just as it fired its stinger. Gwen quickly pulled the stinger out of the ground and stabbed Scorpion in the eye with it. Scorpion stumbled back in disbelief, then roared in pain and dropped to his knees.

Meanwhile, Venom picked up Electro with great difficulty, and the pair fell into the lake together. Several moments later, Eddie crawled out, his clothes soaked. Gwen walked over to him, limping on her injured leg. "Venom?"

"He's fine." Eddie gasped. "Just recovering. He hates fire."

"Here." Gwen reached down and helped Eddie up. "We're not done yet." They walked away, leaving Scorpion to groan in pain.

"Parker." A guard said as she approached Peter's cell. "You've got visitors."

Peter walked into the visiting area and saw Gwen sitting on the other side of the glass with a man standing behind her. Gwen smiled as Peter sat down and picked up the phone on his side.

"Hey Peter." Gwen greeted him.

"Hey." Peter replied. "Thanks for coming." He looked up at Eddie. "Have we met?"

Eddie shook his head. Gwen handed him the phone. "Uh, no, we haven't." Eddie said. "I'm Eddie Brock."

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of you." Peter said. "I saw your interview with Carlton Drake. That was…ballsy."

Eddie chuckled. "Thanks." He handed the phone back to Gwen.

"So, what's up?" Peter asked.

"Eddie helped me with three of our friends." Gwen replied. "They won't be bothering us any time soon."

Peter perked up. "Wait, three? Who was at the party?"

"The doctor, the electrician, and the exterminator." Gwen smiled.

Peter cocked his head in mild confusion. "The bird exterminator, the lizard exterminator, or the bug exterminator?"

"Bug." Gwen said. "The guy who specializes in arachnids."

Peter smiled. "Thanks." He looked up at Eddie, then back at Gwen. "Both of you."

Eddie tapped Gwen on the shoulder, and she handed him the phone. "Hey kid, have you been assigned a lawyer?"

Peter shook his head. "No. A couple have offered, but even to me it was obvious they just wanted to defend Spider-Man."

"Well, my ex knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a pretty great lawyer." Eddie said. "I think his name was Murdock."

Peter nodded. "Sounds good, as long as he's not doing it for the fame."

Gwen took the phone back from Eddie. "So, how's it been now that everyone knows?" She asked.

Peter chuckled. "I have had six guys attack me. The first time I got away, and the other five times someone else defended me. I guess I have some fans in here."

Gwen smiled. "Good to hear."

"Hey Parker." The guard who had accompanied Peter spoke up. "Time's up."

"Take care." Gwen said.

"You too." Peter hung up and followed the guard out of the room.

"So." Eddie crossed his arms. "How long have you been in love with him?"

Gwen bit her lip and looked down. "Four months."

Eddie chuckled. "For what it's worth, you're really good at hiding it. I could barely tell."

A small smile appeared on Gwen's face. "Thanks."

"I don't know how much my relationship advice is worth, considering I ruined my last relationship." Eddie said. "But you should tell him once he's free."

Gwen nodded. "Yep."

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom

Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Jon Hamm as Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock

Bill Skarsgård as Max Dillon/Electro

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May

Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis


	2. Fall of the Spider-Gwen

Gwen sat in the courtroom between Eddie and May. Judge Harrison, a black man in his late 70s, leaned forward in his chair.

"Miss Stewart." Harrison said. "I understand the prosecution has no witnesses."

Alicia Stewart, a brunette in her late 30s, nodded. "That is correct, your honor."

"Then what do you have to make your case?" Harrison asked.

"Evidence, your honor." Stewart replied. "We have over 150 reports, files, and from the last eight years. Damages, injuries, the works. All of them come from incidents Spider-Man was involved in."

Harrison took off his glasses. "It sounds like we're going to be here a while. You may proceed."

The next day, Gwen swung down the street, searching for any signs of Doc Ock, Scorpion, Electro, or any of the other superpowered criminals. She and Venom had been searching for hours and had found nothing. She still had her "bugs" around the city, but she hadn't gotten any notifications. Swinging around a corner, she saw Venom waiting for her on top of an abandoned apartment building, so she fired a web at a taller building nearby and swung down.

"Anything?" Venom asked asked as she landed near him.

"Nothing." Gwen replied, sitting down on a broken AC unit. "Not even a claw mark. What about you?"

Venom shook his head. "Found some faded electrical burns by the river where we fought them. They were on the other side of the river, but they didn't lead anywhere."

"So all we know is that Electro isn't dead." Gwen said.

Venom sighed. "Sadly, yes." He looked West, where the sun was setting. "We're getting hungry. Call it a night?"

Gwen sighed. "Yeah, I suppose we should."

That night, Gwen woke up panting and covered in sweat. After catching her breath, she climbed out of bed, pulled on a pair of sweatpants, and went downstairs, where Eddie was asleep on the couch.

"Eddie?" She said quietly.

As if he had a sentient voice in his head - which he did - Eddie woke up fairly quickly and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah?"

Gwen rubbed her arm. "I...can we talk?"

"Sure." Eddie moved over to the left side of the couch. Gwen sat down next to him. "What's up?" He asked.

"Bad dream." She admitted.

"Those suck." Eddie said matter-of-factly. He and Gwen chuckled.

"Yeah." Gwen agreed.

Eddie looked at her. "What happened?"

Gwen took a deep breath. "I was on my way to a funeral, but I didn't know whose. People were talking about it, but nobody mentioned them by name." Gwen's voice quivered, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "We drove for what felt like a year before we finally got to the cemetery, and I saw the name on the tombstone." She broke down, quietly sobbing into her hands.

"Hey, it's okay." Eddie wrapped an arm around Gwen's shoulders. "Take your time."

Gwen nodded and leaned into Eddie's embrace. She sobbed for several moments, then took a deep breath. "It was Peter's name." She said, her voice still shaking. "And…how I feel—no." She paused and took another deep breath. "The fact that I'm in love with him didn't even cross my mind. All I knew was that my best friend was dead and there was nothing I could do about it."

Eddie rubbed Gwen's shoulder lightly. "It's gonna be okay. I know it sucks, which is why I'm not gonna tell you it is okay, but I can tell you it will be okay."

Gwen nodded. "I know." She said quietly.

"I get it though." Eddie said. "I've had dreams like that before. Obviously not exactly like yours, but I know how helpless you feel after you wake up."

Gwen sighed. "Yeah. It was more than helplessness though. I felt…I don't know. For some reason I felt responsible."

"You're not." Eddie said, looking at her. "I know why you feel responsible for Peter being locked up and I have a pretty good idea what you're gonna say. Look at me."

Gwen sat up and looked at him. "Yeah?"

Eddie put a hand on your shoulder. "Peter getting arrested was not your fault. I know you well enough to know that if you could've gotten there faster, you would have. It's. Not. Your. Fault."

Gwen closed her eyes. "I know. I just wish I could make myself believe that."

Eddie blinked. "I don't know what to tell you."

A small smile appeared on Gwen's face. "It's okay." She sighed and opened her eyes. "I just needed to get that out of my system so I don't internalize it."

"I know what you mean." Eddie said. "Bottle shit like that up for too long and it'll tear you apart from the inside. Not literally, obviously."

Gwen let out a small chuckle. "Obviously."

They both laughed.

"Thanks for this." Gwen said after a moment of silence.

Eddie nodded. "Don't mention it. You're like the little sister I never had."

Gwen smiled. "Thanks."

The next day, Gwen, Eddie, and May were back in court.

"Mr. Murdock." Judge Harrison said. "Call your next witness."

Matt stood up. "I call Adrian Toomes to the stand."

An man in his late 60s wearing orange prison garb was brought in and sworn in.

"Mr. Toomes." Matt began. "What is your relationship with the defendant?"

"It's complicated." Toomes replied. "I had two - one with Peter Parker, and one with Spider-Man."

"Start with Peter." Matt said.

Toomes nodded. "I met Peter Parker when me came to pick up my daughter, Liz, for the homecoming dance."

"What was your opinion of him?" Matt asked.

"Nice kid." Toomes replied. "Smart. Seemed a little nervous, but that was understandable."

"And what about Spider-Man?"

Toomes sighed. "I had four run-ins with Spider-Man. They all involved him trying to interfere with my business."

"Your business?" Matt asked.

Toomes blinked. "Sorry, my highly illegal black market arms dealing business. The first three times he tried to interfere, but was never completely successful. One of them led to a ferry getting sliced in half."

"And the fourth time?"

Toomes leaned forward. "That happened after I found out Peter was Spider-Man."

"Then please tell us about that first." Matt said.

Toomes nodded. "I was driving Peter and Liz to the dance. They were talking about a decathlon they had competed in in DC, and Liz mentioned that Peter had been absent during an incident at the Washington Monument where the elevator was compromised and Spider-Man saved them. This was within a day of the incident on the ferry. That was when I made the connection in my head."

"And what did you do?" Matt asked.

"Once we got to the dance I had Liz get out first, then I confronted Peter." Toomes explainer. "I told him I knew his secret and confirmed that he hadn't told Liz. I said I would spare his life because he had saved hers, but if he interfered with my business again I would kill him."

"What happened after that?" Matt inquired.

Toomes sighed. "My crew and I went through with our plan to rob an unmanned cargo plane owned by Tony Stark. Spider-Man interfered, and the fight led to the plane crashing."

"And who caused crash?" Matt asked.

"We both did, inadvertently." Toomes replied. "But Spi—Peter turned the plane's…steering flap thing so it crashed into a beach instead of some buildings. My wingsuit was damaged in the crash, but I had tunnel vision and didn't realize how badly. I was trying to make off with some cargo and he tried to stop me. He told me my suit was going to explode and I ignored him. When I tried to take off, my suit failed and I crashed. Peter pulled me out or the wreckage. He saved my life after I tried to kill him."

Matt turned in the judge's general direction. "No further questions, your honor."

"Very well." Judge Harrison turned to Alicia Stewart. "Miss Stewart, your witness."

She approached Toomes. "Mr. Toomes, isn't it possible that Spider-Man only saved you because he was dating your daughter?"

Toomes thought for a moment. "I'm certain the thought crossed his mind, but no, I'd sooner believe that Judge Harrison is Spider-Man than that Peter only saved me because of Liz." He looked at Judge Harrison. "No offense intended your honor."

"None taken." Harrison replied.

That night, Gwen crouched on a rooftop. As she looked out over the city, her phone vibrated in her bag, and she answered it.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Hey." Eddie's voice said. "Doc Ock's in a bank on 49th street. Looks like he's got a new friend, but I can't tell who or what it is from this distance."

Gwen checked the map on her phone. "I'm three minutes out."

Two and a half minutes later, Gwen landed on a three story apartment building and pulled out her phone. "Eddie? I'm here."

"Good." Eddie said. "Where?"

"Apartment building across the street from the bank and two buildings down."

"Oh yeah, I see you." Eddie replied. "Look down and to your left. I'm five doors down from the bank."

Gwen looked and saw Eddie looking up at her. "I see you. What's the plan?"

"I'm thinking you sneak in through the top and I go in through the front."

Gwen shrugged. "I can't think of anything better. Let's do it."

"Your move." Eddie said.

Gwen put her phone away and approached the edge. She took a deep breath, fired a web at a skyway between a pair of five story buildings that were on either side of the bank, and stepped of the roof. She swung down, turned around 180 degrees, and swung back the other way. At the bottom of her arc, she let go and dropped, rolling when she hit the roof below. She slipped inside, where she heard voices below her.

"Dammit!" Doc Ock's voice said. "They've upgraded their vault doors."

"What are we going to do about it?" Another voice said, this one sounding not quite human.

"Hell if I know." Doc Ock replied.

Gwen crawled down the ceiling above the stairs and looked out into the room, where she saw nothing. Looking around, she fired five webs at the wall in front of her, one straight ahead and two on either side of it.

Gwen's Spider-Sense alerted her to danger, and she dropped to the floor as a scaly hand snatched at the air above her. She fired web projectiles at Lizard, but a tentacle from Doc Ock snaked around the corner, grabbed her by the ankle, and slammed her against the wall. Gwen recovered and leapt to her feet, and at that moment Venom crashed through a rear window and tackled Lizard to the ground. Gwen jumped over slashes from two of Doc Ock's tentacle spikes, then webbed Lizard's tail and slammed Lizard into Doc Ock, sending them tumbling across the floor. Venom, who was right behind them, placed his right hand on Lizard's right shoulder, grabbed his right wrist with his left, and ripped the arm off. Lizard shrieked in pain and kicked Venom back, then scrambled to his feet and ran, breaking through a window on his way out. Doc Ock followed his reptilian ally outside and fled in the opposite direction. When Gwen and Venom got outside seconds later, Lizard was gone, and Doc Ock was disappearing around the corner. They ran after him, but lost him after a few blocks.

Three days later, they were back in court. The jury had finished deliberating, and were ready to announce their decision. The bailiff took a tablet from the lead juror and delivered it to Judge Harrison.

"On the charge of manslaughter," Harrison read, "This court finds the defendant not guilty."

Gwen released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"On the 173 charges of destruction of public property," Harrison continued, "The court finds the defendant not guilty of 172, guilty as charged of one."

Gwen heard May curse under her breath.

"On the 68 charges of interfering with police investigations," Harrison said, "The court finds the defendant not guilty. I have taken all that the defendant has done for this city and others into account, and I sentence you a $300 fine." He pounded his gavel. "This court is adjourned."

Tears of joy streaked down Gwen's cheeks as she and May hugged.

The three of them picked up Peter a couple hours later. They were on their way back to May's house when Gwen's Spider-Sense warned her of danger, but whatever was coming was moving too fast. It landed on top of the car, denting the roof. May screamed and tried to shake it off, but a red arm broke through the window and pulled Gwen out. Gwen cried out and tried to free herself, but whatever it was threw her down an alleyway. She hit a brick wall three stories up and fell to the ground, breaking her right leg. She screamed in pain as the red blur approached her. She shook her head, clearing her vision, and saw a creature that resembled Venom but was red and bigger.

"What do you want?" Gwen asked weakly, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up.

"Not much." The red beast growled. "Just a moment of your time." Looking around the alley, he picked up a metal pipe and drove it into Gwen's chest, stabbing her through the heart.

"Gwen!" Peter and Eddie's voices shouted. Peter got to Gwen and picked her up while Eddie shouted "Get her out of here! Go!" Eddie then changed into Venom and tackled the red beast. That was the last thing Gwen saw before the world went dark.

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom

Jon Hamm as Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May

Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard

Morgan Freeman as Judge Elliot Harrison

Alison Brie as Alicia Stewart

Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes

Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady/Carnage


	3. Rise of the Spider-Gwen

It was a sunny as Peter Parker, Eddie Brock, Captain George Stacy, and several others carried a casket to an open grave. They set it down, and Peter stood behind the podium.

"She was my best friend." Peter said, tears running down his face. "My life changed for the better when I met her. I don't know what I'm going to do without her, but I know she would want me to be strong and keep moving forward."

Gwen Stacy woke with a start, clutching her chest and gasping for breath. Looking around, she realized she was in a hospital room.

"Gwen!" Peter exclaimed, practically leaping out of the chair he was sitting in and embracing her.

"Peter!" Gwen didn't even bother trying to hold back tears as she hugged him back.

"I thought I was too late." Peter said, tears running down his cheeks. "They said they didn't know if you'd wake up."

"There's something I need to tell you." Gwen said.

"Can it wait another minute or two?" An unfamiliar voice asked. Gwen opened her eyes and saw a blond man in a doctor's outfit standing off to the side.

Gwen nodded. "What happened?"

He stepped forward. "Miss Stacy, I'm Doctor Iverson. You had a heart transplant."

Gwen looked down at her chest, but the only scar was a small vertical line over her heart. She looked at Dr. Iverson in amazement.

"I know, right?" Iverson said. "We recently received a grant that let us afford the most advanced surgical equipment available. Now we can limit the scars left behind after surgery." He chuckled. "I've seen it over thirty times and it never gets old."

Gwen suddenly remembered her second injury. "What about my leg?"

Iverson swiped down on his tablet. "Minor break. You've been here for five days. Your leg's already 95% healed."

There was a knock at the door. "Mind if we say hi?" May's voice asked.

"I'm done here." Iverson said. "Come on in."

Iverson walked out, then Eddie and May stepped inside. Eddie closed the door, and May walked around the other side of the bed and hugged Gwen.

"I'm so glad you're okay." May said.

"Thank you." Gwen hugged back. May pulled away, and Eddie sat down on the edge of the bed where Peter had been and put a hand on Gwen's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're alright." Eddie said. "Tell him." He mouthed.

Gwen smiled and put her hand on his. "What happened?" She asked, looking at the others.

"Um, I carried you back to the car while Eddie, um, suited up to fight the big red monster." Peter said.

Eddie chuckled. "You're not far off. His name Cletus Cassidy, and his symbiote is Carnage. He's red because supposedly Carnage is connected to Cletus' bloodstream."

"Gross." Gwen said.

Peter chuckled. "Who names their kid 'Cletus'?"

Eddie shrugged. "Beats me. Rednecks who think it's still the 1970s?"

May burst out laughing. "Sounds right to me."

Gwen smiled. "Hey, can Peter and I have a minute?"

Understanding, Eddie nodded. "Sure, we'll be outside." He walked out, and May followed him, looking slightly confused.

"What's up?" Peter asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Gwen took a deep breath. "I love you Peter." She said quietly.

Peter blinked and shook his head, like he wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. "Sorry, what?"

Gwen took Peter's hand in hers and looked him in the eye. "I've been in love with you for the last four months."

Peter's jaw dropped. "Oh."

Gwen chuckled softly. "It's okay if you need a minute."

Peter nodded. "I have no idea what to say." He said slowly.

Gwen licked her lips. "Tell me what you're feeling."

Peter chuckled. "Disbelief. Confusion." He met Gwen's gaze. "Joy."

Gwen blushed faintly. "You have no idea how much that means to me." She said softly.

Peter smiled. "I'm not sure exactly how I feel, but I definitely have strong feelings of some kind for you."

Gwen felt a surge of emotion flow through her. "Come here." She pulled Peter close and kissed him. Peter kissed back. After a long moment they broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes, then Gwen pulled Peter into a hug.

"I've wanted to tell you for weeks." Gwen whispered. "When I got stabbed I was scared I'd never get the chance."

"I was so scared you wouldn't make it." Peter said. "I know that when someone gets stabbed you're not supposed to pull it out because they'll bleed out faster, but seeing you like that and not pulling the pipe out was the hardest thing I've ever done." Tears were flowing down his cheeks. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm here." Gwen rubbed his back. "I'm not going anywhere."

There was a knock. Eddie cracked the door open and poked his head inside. "Hey, when you guys are done, we've got more visitors and stuff to talk about."

Gwen and Peter wiped away their tears. "Come on in." Gwen said. Eddie opened the door and stepped inside with May right behind him. They were followed by Matt Murdock.

"Matt?" Peter asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Eddie explained the situation to me." Matt replied. "I'm Daredevil."

Gwen did a double take. "No way."

"Matt called a couple of his friends to help us." Eddie said. "You ready to go?" He asked Gwen.

Gwen nodded and got out of the bed. "I need to change."

May pulled a t-shirt and a pair of shorts out of a bag she was carrying and tossed them to Gwen. "We'll wait outside."

Five minutes later Gwen walked out of the hospital room. The group left the hospital and walked out into the parking lot. Eddie hopped on his bike, and the others climbed into May's car. In the backseat, Gwen lay her head on Peter's shoulder. Peter smiled and put an arm around her.

20 minutes later they arrived at May's house, where a tan 1970s Oldsmobile was parked outside. A muscular black man and a dark-haired woman got out.

"Peter, Gwen, May, Eddie." Matt said, gesturing in their general direction. "This is Luke Cage and Jessica Jones."

The six of them introduced themselves. Eddie turned to Matt and asked. "I thought you were inviting three friends?"

"I did." Matt replied. "Frank's running a little late. What about yours?"

"She has to pick up some equipment." Eddie said.

They walked up to the porch and were about to go inside when a motorcycle came around the corner and parked behind the Oldsmobile. A dark haired man got off and walked across the street to the group.

"There's Frank." Matt said.

"Wait, Frank?" Peter asked. "As in Frank Castle?"

"The one and only." Frank said.

"How many more are we expecting?" May asked.

"Just one." Eddie replied. "She'll be here in about half an hour."

They made their way inside and into the living room. Peter and Gwen sat next to each other on the love seat, and May sat in her armchair. Luke, Matt, and Frank sat on the couch, Eddie brought in two chairs from the dining room, and Jessica stood in the corner with her arms crossed.

"Okay." Frank pulled a tablet out of his bag. "A buddy of mine has been searching the dark web, and he figured out what Doc Ock and his buddies are up to." He pulled up a map on the tablet and set it down on the coffee table. "This is an old refinery near downtown. They're making a dirty bomb, and from the looks of it they'll be done within a few hours."

"I need a drink." Jessica said from her corner. "Do you have anything?" She asked May.

"Not in this house." May replied firmly.

"Ugh, fine." Jessica pulled a flask out of her jacket. May shot her the stink eye, and Jessica maintained eye contact as she took a long swig.

"How recent is this image?" Luke asked.

"This is live." Frank replied.

Gwen leaned forward. "Is that Rhino?"

Peter leaned in to look. "Indeed it is."

Frank zoomed out slightly. "Looks like we've got two entrances. Main entrance on the south side, and a back door in the northeast corner."

Peter looked at Gwen. "Don't you have a friend on the force now?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, Officer Davis."

Eddie had a light bulb turn on in his head. "We could use a bomb disposal unit."

"I'll call him before we leave." Gwen said.

There was a knock at the door.

"That'll be Anne." Eddie said, standing up. "I got it." He answered the door and returned with a blond woman in her late 30s. "Everyone, this is Anne Weying, my ex." Eddie pointed to everyone in clockwise order. "Anne, this is Peter, Gwen, May, Jessica, Frank, Luke, and Matt."

Everyone except Jessica waved. Jessica nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"I asked Anne to come because she and her husband have helped me with Venom in the past, and a while back they helped me put together a sonic cannon." Eddie explained. "See, the one of the symbiotes' weaknesses is a certain sound frequency, so I've been exposing Venom to short bursts of it over the past couple years to help build endurance."

"Like exposure therapy." Matt said.

"Exactly." Anne replied.

"Wait, who is Venom?" Jessica asked.

Peter, Gwen, May, and Anne looked at Eddie.

Eddie shrugged. "Alright, fuck it." Black goo seeped out of his clothes and covered his entire body.

"Okay," Jessica said. "That's kinda cool."

"You as strong as you look?" Luke asked.

Everyone looked at Venom. May realized what they were thinking and said "You better not break anything."

Peter and Gwen applied a thick layer of web to the top of the coffee table. Venom knelt down and put his elbow on the the table and his hand in the air. Luke did the same, grabbing Venom's hand.

"Alright, ready?" Frank asked, standing at the end of the table.

Venom and Luke nodded.

"On three." Frank smiled. "One...two...three!"

Venom and Luke began pushing against each other, both clearly struggling. Everyone else watched in anticipation.

"Come on!" Frank looked back and forth between them. "Is that the best you can do?"

Luke gritted his teeth, and Venom's eyes narrowed. Venom started to overpower Luke, but didn't get his arm very far down before Luke pushed back harder. Luke slowly pushed Venom's arm down. He got it about two thirds of the way down before Venom growled and pushed back even harder, slowly making progress. Luke didn't let up until the back of his hand touched the web-covered table.

"Damn." Luke said, breathing heavily and grinning. "Good game." He held out his hand.

Venom uncovered Eddie's face. Eddie smiled and shook Luke's hand. "You almost had us there."

"Okay." Jessica said. "As entertaining as that was, we still need a plan."

An hour later, Gwen stepped out into the hallway and pulled out her phone. "Hello, Officer Davis? Gwen Stacy. Yes. No, I'm fine. I have a proposal and a lead on a bomb threat. I wish I was kidding. Okay, here's what's going on."

Ten minutes later, Gwen rejoined the others. "They're sending a bomb squad and a SWAT team. They'll meet us a block north of the refinery in an hour."

Once everyone changed into their supersuits, they grabbed their bags and headed outside. Frank and Eddie climbed onto their motorcycles, Matt joined Anne in her truck, and Peter and Gwen joined Luke and Jessica in the Oldsmobile.

They arrived a block north of the refinery and found a SWAT van waiting for them. They exited their vehicles, and a moment later the van's back doors opened. Officer Davis stepped out in full combat gear, followed by six SWAT officers and three explosive specialists. The specialists carried P90 submachine guns, while Davis and the SWAT team carried F2000 assault rifles. Reaching into his bag, Frank pulled out his tablet and joined Luke, Gwen, and Eddie as they approached the officers.

"Officer Davis." Gwen greeted him.

"Spider-Woman." Davis nodded.

"Thank you so much for coming." Gwen said. "We can probably handle these guys, but none of us can disarm a bomb."

"Ma'am," the SWAT captain stepped forward. "Steve Anderson. We haven't always seen eye to eye with supers, but in this case we're happy to help. We have a fire unit three blocks south of the refinery as you requested."

"You guys have a plan?" Davis asked.

Gwen nodded. "Frank?"

Frank pulled up the map on his tablet and set it down on an old picnic table. "Refinery's got two entrances. Main door on the south side, back door in the northeast corner."

"We hit it from both sides?" Anderson asked.

Gwen nodded. "Luke, Frank, and Daredevil will join you guys to sneak in the back door. The rest of us will approach from the south and try to draw most of them out to meet us."

"Sounds good to me." Davis said. "How many of these guys are we dealing with?"

"Six that we know of." Gwen replied. "Doc Ock, Electro, Rhino, Bullseye, Lizard, and Carnage."

"We're familiar with most of them." Davis said.

"Who's this 'Carnage' though?" Anderson asked.

"I'll show you." Eddie turned into Venom. "He's like me, but red and worse."

Three of the SWAT officers and one specialist took steps back. The goo retreated into Eddie's clothes. "Don't worry, if Carnage doesn't come out to meet us I'll push through and keep him off your asses."

Anderson nodded. "Sounds good. We'll meet you in the middle."

Frank rummaged through his bag and pulled out an AK-104 assault rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, a suppressed MP7 submachine gun with a laser sight, and an M1911 pistol. Looking at Anderson, he held up his pistol and said "If it makes you feel any better, I own this one legally."

Anderson chuckled. "A little."

While Frank, Matt, and Luke followed the cops, Gwen rejoined the others as they climbed into Anne's truck and drove around the refinery, then they approached it from the south. The parking lot was cracked and old. Plants were growing out of the cracks, and trees outside the lot had grown over into it.

Anne parked the truck, and Eddie, Gwen, Peter, and Jessica got out and walked across the parking lot to the refinery. As they got close, the front doors opened and Doc Ock crawled out.

"This is private property." Doc Ock said. "You guys know you're trespassing right?"

Jessica snorted. "Oh, and you're not?"

Doc Ock shrugged. "True, but we got here first. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Four quadrupedal circular robots with legs resembling Doc Ock's tentacles appeared on the roof. One of them fired a warning shot from an internal weapon.

"Crap!" Peter took a step back. "Octobots!"

Gwen touched her earbud. "Davis, it's Spider-Woman. Keep an eye out for Octobots."

"Copy that." Davis replied as his group approached the back door. Turning to the others, he said "Keep an eye out for four-legged robots. They are considered a threat." The other officers nodded.

In the parking lot, Eddie said "Let's get this over with." Turning into Venom, he ripped off a piece of the old parking lot and hurled it at the Octobots. The cement chunk destroyed one Octobot and made a hole in the refinery wall.

"Fine." Doc Ock tapped on his phone. "Have it your way."

Behind him, the Octobots retreated back inside. A moment later Carnage and Lizard burst through the wall, landing next to Doc Ock, and the three of them charged. Venom charged to meet them, the others right behind him. The two groups met when Venom and Carnage leapt into the air and crashed into each other.

Meanwhile, Luke led his group into the refinery. They rounded a corner and were immediately greeted by a hail of bullets. Luke used his body to block most of them, but one hit a SWAT officer between the eyes, and another hit Frank in the abdomen.

"Shit!" Frank groaned in pain. "Bullseye!"

"Alright!" Davis told the others. "Suppressing fire, on my command!"

Frank and the officers nodded.

"Go!" Davis shouted. He, Frank, Anderson, and the four other SWAT officers rose up and opened fire, forcing Bullseye to take cover. They stopped, and a moment later seven Octobots made themselves known by opening fire from the walls.

"Take cover!" Luke shouted as he took hit after hit.

Seeing this, Bullseye shouted "Hey big guy, how about a hand?"

There was a loud roar, and Rhino crashed through an old piece of machinery and charged at Luke. Luke charged to meet him, and they crashed through the wall and out of the building. Frank and the officers resumed exchanging fire with Bullseye and the Octobots. Matt looked around, using his ears to sense what was going on. Anderson managed to shoot two legs off of an Octobot, sending it crashing to the ground.

Outside, Jessica dodged a stab from one of Doc Ock's tentacles and grabbed it, bending the spike so it couldn't retract. Doc Ock groaned and grabbed her ankle, throwing her across the parking lot. Across the lot, Gwen webbed Lizard's head and slammed it into the ground while Peter webbed a large piece of rubble and slammed it into Lizard's head. Nearby, Carnage backhanded Venom to the ground and pinned him down, but Venom kicked him off, uprooted a small tree with his tendrils, and swung it like a baseball bat, hitting Carnage in the back and breaking the tree. Venom took a step back, and Anne fired the sonic cannon at Carnage, who wailed in pain and charged at Venom. Anne stopped when the symbiotes collided.

In the refinery, Bullseye fired as he ran across the room to another piece of cover, killing one specialist and hitting another in the arm. Frank stood up and fired his grenade launcher, destroying one Octobot and crippling the leg of another. Bullseye popped up and fired, killing a SWAT officer, and one of the other officers fired reflexively, mostly missing but grazing Bullseye's head with one shot. Bullseye cursed loudly in pain and took cover. The wall shook as something hit it hard. Frank's AK-104 ran out of ammo, so he dropped it and switched to his MP7.

In the grass next to the refinery, Luke grunted as Rhino slammed him into the wall again, cracking it. Luke rolled to the side and kicked Rhino in the ribs, knocking him on his side.

In the parking lot, Gwen webbed one of Doc Ock's tentacles with one hand and Lizard's tail with the other and stuck the webs together.

In the grass, Rhino charged at Luke and tried to headbutt him, who sidestepped the horn but still took a shoulder to the gut. The impact sent Luke flying.

In the parking lot, Venom blocked a punch from Carnage, picked him up, and was about to slam him into the ground when Luke hit the ground a few feet away. The impact caused Venom to stumble and drop Carnage, who landed on his feet and kicked Venom in the head. With a roar, Rhino charged at the nearest enemy he could see, Jessica. Jessica heard him coming, but was busy trading blows with Doc Ock. Seeing this, Gwen fired a web at a tree and swung towards Jessica, grabbing her and pulling her out of the way as Rhino crashed into Doc Ock.

"I was fine!" Jessica said.

"I know you were." Gwen replied.

Inside, Matt heard Rhino getting farther away. Turning to the others, he said "I'll flank him. Cover me."

Confused, Anderson said "I thought you were blind."

Matt pulled out his billy club. "Technically I am." He ducked down and walked off, hiding behind crates as necessary.

Outside, Gwen and the others were caught off-guard when Electro suddenly flew up out of the refinery. He took in his surroundings, then flew down and shocked Venom, sending the symbiote flying back. Seizing the moment, Carnage grabbed Venom, picked him up, and slammed him into the ground. Lizard took the opportunity to tackle Gwen, pinning her down. Jessica jumped onto Lizard's back and put him in a choke hold.

Inside, Davis destroyed the last Octobot. Matt, who had made his way behind Bullseye, was coming up behind him when Bullseye suddenly spun on his heel and threw a shuriken, hitting Matt in the thigh. Matt yelled in pain and pulled it out, then charged at Bullseye, who pulled out a pair of knives and threw them. Matt dodged the first one, and the second grazed his shoulder. Bullseye drew two more knives and rushed to meet him. Matt ducked under the first knife slash and slammed his billy club into Bullseye's side. Bullseye grunted and kneed Matt in the chest, knocking him back. Bullseye advanced, inadvertently coming out from behind cover. Hearing soft footsteps, Matt stayed down, allowing Anderson to shoot Bullseye in the back. Bullseye shouted in pain, spun around, and threw the knife in his right hand, hitting Anderson in the shoulder and forcing him to take cover. Matt pulled apart his billy club, revealing the chain connecting the two halves, and hit Bullseye hard in the knee. Matt heard a crack, and his opponent roared and dropped to his knees. Frank came out from behind cover and killed Bullseye with a burst from his MP7.

"I got eyes on the bomb." Frank said.

"You." Anderson said, pointing to one of the SWAT officers. "Stay with the bomb guys. The rest of you, on me."

"I'll stay too." Matt said.

Anderson nodded. "Let's go!"

Outside, Peter was hit by a lighting blast from Electro and knocked on his ass. Groaning, he rolled to the side as Lizard slammed his tail down. Venom stepped forward and grabbed Electro with several tendrils. Electro responded by launching a massive shockwave down the tendrils. Roaring in pain, Venom fired several more tendrils at Carnage, transferring some of the shock to the red symbiote, who also roared.

Getting an idea, Gwen turned and waved her arms at Anne, shouting "Now!"

Understanding, Anne fired the sonic cannon at Carnage, who shrieked loudly and frantically tried to break free of Venom. Seeing this, Peter and Gwen unloaded their webbing on Carnage, effectively gluing him in place. Lizard ran to stop them, and Jessica and Luke were occupied with Doc Ock and Rhino respectively.

A hail of gunfire suddenly hit Lizard, who shielded his head with his arms. Gwen and Peter looked up and saw Anderson, Frank, Davis, and two SWAT officers advancing as the fired. Lizard hissed at them, and Anderson fired his grenade launcher. The explosion blasted Lizard out of the parking lot and into the street, where he tucked his tail between his legs and fled. Rhino rose to his feet and followed his reptilian ally in retreat. Meanwhile, Carnage had taken massive damage and retreated into its host, and Cletus Kasady was in the fetal position on the ground. Across the parking lot, Luke and Jessica twisted Doc Ock's tentacles into a knot, then walked back over to the others. Realizing he was alone, Electro flew away.

"Any casualties?" Luke asked.

Davis nodded. "Two dead, two injured."

Luke looked down. "I'm sorry."

Anderson finished cuffing Kasady and stood up. "We could use a hand with this one, in case he turns back into a monster."

Eddie gestured towards Anne. "We'll go with you."

Anderson nodded. "I appreciate it."

Something dawned on Davis. "We're forgetting something."

After a moment of awkward silence, Gwen exclaimed "The bomb!"

Davis grabbed his radio. "Edwards, status of the bomb?"

"Disarmed sir." The bomb tech replied.

There was a collective sigh of relief before everyone went their separate ways, leaving Gwen and Peter standing there.

"So...now what?" Peter asked.

Gwen shrugged. "Race you to my place."

"You're on." Peter said. "What does the winner get?"

Gwen thought for a moment. "Winner chooses position."

It took Peter five seconds to realize what she meant. "Oh you are so on!"

"Wait." Gwen said. "We should stop by your place and grab a change of clothes."

Peter nodded. "The race starts there."

20 minutes later they arrived at the Parker house, ran inside and shoved some clothes in bags, then went back outside.

"Ready?" Peter asked.

Gwen nodded. "Three."

"Two." Peter said.

"One!" They said together, then fired their webs and swung off.

The next morning Gwen woke up naked, her hair a mess and her head on Peter's chest. She looked up and saw Peter smiling at her.

"Hey." He said, running a hand through her hair.

"Hi." She replied.

"I think I love you." He said softly.

Gwen beamed. "I love you too."

They lay there for a moment before Peter said "We should probably clean up the mess."

Gwen burst out laughing. "Later." She said, climbing on top of Peter and kissing him.

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil

Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher

Mike Colter as Luke Cage

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones

Michelle Williams as Anne Weying

Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady/Carnage

Jon Hamm as Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock

Bill Skarsgård as Max Dillon/Electro

Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard

Wilson Bethel as Bullseye

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May

Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis

John Cena as SWAT Captain Steve Anderson.

Wyatt Russell as Doctor Harry Iverson

Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy


	4. Dusk of the Spider-Gwen

Gwen Stacy lay on her back in a large web hammock she had spun between two buildings, scrolling through her phone. After a while, she heard a "thwip" sound that gradually grew louder. She looked to her left, and a moment later Peter Parker swung around the corner wearing a sling backpack over his Spidey suit. He landed on the roof of one of the buildings Gwen's web was anchored to and crawled across the web to her.

"Hey, you're early." Gwen said, slightly impressed.

Peter shrugged and pulled off his mask. "What can I say? The idea of having a picnic date three stories up is exciting."

Gwen pulled her hood down, took off her mask, and looked down. "You're not wrong."

"Yeah, but mainly I couldn't wait to see you." Peter said as he took off his backpack.

Gwen blushed. "That's it. Come here." She crawled forward and kissed him. Peter put a hand on her cheek and kissed back. After a moment, Gwen broke the kiss and grabbed the backpack, opening it and pulling out the paper bag inside.

"You remembered my order, right?" She asked, digging through the bag.

"Yep." Peter replied. "Bacon cheeseburger, no condiments, extra bacon."

Gwen pulled out a small box and checked the burger inside. "You are the best." She said, kissing Peter on the cheek and taking a big bite of the burger.

After they finished eating, they lay back and snuggled while they watched the sunset.

"So gorgeous." Peter said.

"I know." Gwen replied. "I've always loved sunsets."

"What sunset?" Peter asked.

Gwen looked at him with a mixture of affection, disbelief, and amusement.

Peter sighed. "That sounded a lot less corny in my head."

"It's okay." Gwen chuckled. "I like a little corny." She kissed his cheek.

"So, now what?" Peter asked.

Gwen shrugged. "Back to my place, resume our normal superhero duties tomorrow?"

"Sounds good to me." Peter replied.

The next day, Gwen was swinging through the city when Peter's voice spoke in her earbuds. "Hey, looks like we got a hostage situation at a restaurant at 314 Washington street. I'm en route now."

Gwen checked her phone for directions. "On my way." She turned around and swung the other way.

"Hey," Peter's voice said. "I had a lot of fun yesterday."

"Yeah, me too." Gwen replied as she rounded a corner.

"We should-woah!" Peter reacted to something Gwen couldn't see. "We should do that more often. Just take a day off every once in a while."

"Sounds good to me." Gwen said. A minute later she swung up to the roof of a 2 story building. Walking across to the other side, she looked to her left. A couple buildings down, four police cars were stopped in the street in front of a restaurant on the other side of the street. She heard Peter land behind her and walk up next to her.

"Looks like the situation is in that restaurant." Gwen said, pointing.

Peter cocked his head. "Who takes hostages in a restaurant?"

Gwen shrugged. "Beats me."

Peter looked at her. "Any ide-

He was cut off when gunfire suddenly erupted from the restaurant. Two cops were hit in the initial burst. While most of the other cops tried to return fire, one ran out from behind his car in an attempt to reach the wounded officers, but he was cut down before he could make it.

"We need to help!" Peter exclaimed.

"I know!" Gwen replied. "We need a plan."

Peter grabbed his head. "Gah, I've got nothing."

Gwen took a deep breath and watched for a moment. "I got something."

"I'm all ears." Peter said.

"We need to make walls of web between the cop cars." Gwen pointed to the open spaces between the vehicles.

Peter nodded. "Our webs aren't bulletproof, but they'll make good visual cover."

Gwen nodded. "And if we make them thick enough they'll at least slow the bullets down."

"I'll take the left side." Peter said, firing a web and swinging over the next building. Gwen fired a web and followed him. She reached the building across from the restaurant and stopped. Peter kept going until he reached the other end of the building.

"Ready?" Peter asked.

Gwen nodded. "Three."

"Two." Peter said.

"One!" They said together, then fired webs across to the roof of the restaurant. They crawled across the webs until they were above the police cars, then lowered themselves down until they were just above the line of sight of anyone in the restaurant. They fired webs between the middle two cop cars, and about 20 seconds later there was a web wall thick enough that the surviving cop on one side was able to crawl past the dead cop to the two injured cops behind the other car. Gwen and Peter did the same for the left and right cars respectively, then swung away as the gunmen inside started firing at them.

"Thank you!" One of the cops shouted.

Three months later, Peter woke up in the middle of the night. The clock said 2:23 am. He had moved in with Gwen almost two weeks earlier, and he still wasn't used to her bed. Rolling over, he saw Gwen sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from him.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked, sitting up.

Gwen turned around, and Peter saw that she had recently been crying. "Can...can we talk?"

"Hey, come here." Peter scooted across the bed and took Gwen's hands in his. "Yes, always. Of course we can."

Gwen squeezed his hands. "Peter, I'm pregnant."

Peter's eyes widened. "You're sure?" He asked, looking into her eyes.

Gwen nodded. "The test came back positive, so I took another one just to make sure, and that one came back positive too."

"Okay." Peter looked down, then back at her. "Is this good or bad?"

"I don't know." Gwen said, now crying. "I want this, I really do, and you're the one I want it with, but…" She took several deep breaths. "Peter, I'm not ready."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked. "Like in what way?"

Gwen grabbed a tissue from the box on her nightstand and blew her nose. "I'm 24. We both are. I'm not ready to take on the responsibility of having a kid, financially or otherwise." She looked at Peter.

Peter considered this. "Okay."

Gwen looked at him. "Okay?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah. It's your choice. Believe me, I think I want this too someday, but if you're not ready then you're not ready. Maybe in a few years we can do it on purpose."

Gwen chuckled. "I'd like that. Someday."

Peter put a hand on her cheek. "When are you going to see the doctor?"

"Day after tomorrow, 10:00 am." Gwen put her hand over Peter's. "You're coming with me."

"You're damn right I am." Peter said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm here for you. Always."

The next day, Peter and Gwen were in pursuit of a stolen vehicle. It turned a corner, and when they rounded the same corner, there was a second vehicle of the same model and color near the first one. As they watched, one car turned left, and the other continued straight.

"I'll go left." Gwen said.

"Got it." Peter replied and kept going straight.

Gwen followed her car for several blocks before it parked and a redhead woman got out. "Peter?" She said. "I got the wrong one. What's your location?"

She got no response.

"Peter?" She asked, adjusting her microphone. "Peter?!"

She heard static, then nothing.


	5. Night of the Spider-Gwen

Peter Parker woke up chained to a wall, his arms spread wide and his legs shoulder-width apart. His mask was off but he was still wearing the rest of his suit. Looking around, he saw he was in a relatively large square room. In the far corner, there was a hallway leading off to the left he couldn't see down. On his right, a man in a lab coat sat at a desk, working on something on a laptop.

"Ah, Peter, you're awake." The man turned, and Peter recognized him.

"Dr. Connors?" Peter asked. "Where am I? How long have I been here?"

Connors stood up. "It's been four days. We both know I'm not going to tell you where we are."

"Ah, he's awake." A familiar voice said. Peter looked up as Scorpion walked in from the hallway. He was wearing an eyepatch over his left eye.

"Scorpion?" Peter asked. "What happened to your eye?"

"Funny you should ask." Scorpion said with a hint of disgust. "This was courtesy of your friend, Spider-Bitch." He walked over to Peter. "Where might she be?"

Peter chuckled. "How the heck should I know? We don't exactly have a secret clubhouse like you guys."

Scorpion turned and started to walk away. "I didn't expect you to know." He suddenly turned and fired his stinger into the wall six inches from Peter's head. "It's a good thing she'll come looking for you."

"Mac." Connors said sternly. "Grab your stinger so he can't use it to escape."

"Oh right." Scorpion pulled the stinger out of the wall. "Thanks Doc." He turned and walked away.

"Any time." Connors said, turning back to his laptop.

Gwen Stacy stood in front of a security door in her Spider suit. Next to her, Officer Jefferson Davis stood with his hands folded. After a moment, a small alarm sounded and the door opened. They stepped inside, and the door closed behind them. Davis stayed by the door while Gwen walked into the room. The room was large, and had over a dozen small tables, but the only other people in the room were a security guard standing next to another door and a man in his late 40s wearing orange prison clothes chained to one of the tables.

"Spider-Woman." Doc Ock greeted her.

"Doctor Octavius."

Octavius smiled. "I'd say I'm surprised to see you, but honestly the only thing surprising is that you waited four days to visit me."

Gwen sat down across from him. "Where is Spider-Man?"

Octavius chuckled. "What makes you think I would know?"

Gwen looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"I'm kidding." Octavius leaned back. "I'm allied with the people who are probably responsible for his disappearance and you think I might be in on it."

Gwen cocked her head. "Aren't you?"

Octavius shrugged. "Honestly, I'd love to take credit, but I haven't even made a phone call or written a letter since I've been here. Hell, I'm surprised none of them have tried to bust me out yet."

Gwen sighed. "Do you know where they would take him if they had him?"

Octavius thought for a moment. "Alright, I can give you the locations of a few hideouts, but don't check them all in a row. Make it look like you got lucky and just happened to find them."

"You don't want them to know you tipped me off."

Octavius chuckled. "Actually I'm just telling you a few that they don't use as much anymore. Odds are you won't find much."

Gwen looked down. "Then why are you telling me at all?"

Octavius sighed. "Because I hear your tone of voice when you talk about him. I've seen the way you act around him. The little behaviors and mannerisms he doesn't notice. I may be a scientist, but that doesn't mean I don't know love when I see it. And I don't mean some crush. You are head over heels in love with him and I don't need to see your face to know it."

Gwen put her head in her hands as she held back tears. "Is there a point to this?" She asked, her voice shaking.

Octavius folded his hands. "Look, my wife was my world." He said, his voice soft and comforting. "Losing her was more painful than any physical pain I've ever experienced. I don't know if Spider-Man feels the same way about you, but if there's any chance he does you should go for it. People in both our lines of work have pretty short life expectancies, so you gotta grab every sliver of happiness you can. That's why I'm helping you."

Gwen took a deep breath and nodded. "Tell me."

That night, Gwen woke up drenched in sweat and gasping loudly for breath.

"Gwen?" May's voice asked from down the hall. Gwen heard footsteps, and a moment later May poked her head into the guest bedroom Gwen was staying in. "You okay sweetie?"

Gwen shook her head. "No." She said, her voice shaking and tears rolling down her cheeks.

May walked over and sat down next to Gwen. "Talk to me sweetie. What's wrong? Bad dream?"

Gwen nodded. "I-I was at Peter's funeral. We both were. I got up to say a few words but I couldn't make a sound."

May put an arm around Gwen's shoulders. "Anything else?"

Gwen closed her eyes, then opened them. "Peter didn't tell you, did he?"

May thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I know you two are together."

Gwen bit her lip. "May, I'm pregnant."

May did a double take. "What?"

Gwen giggled in spite of herself. "I know, I could barely believe it at first." She looked at May. "Yes, it's Peter's, and yes, he knows."

May quickly overcame her shock. "Okay. This is a good thing, right?"

Gwen shook her head. "I…I'm not keeping it. Peter and I were scheduled for an appointment the day after he disappeared." Unable to hold back, she burst into tears. "May I don't wanna do this without him."

May hugged Gwen tightly. "You won't have to. You'll find him. I know you will."

Gwen nodded. "I know."

May looked at her. "You're sure you don't wanna keep it?"

Gwen chuckled. "Believe me, I want this someday, but right now I'm not ready."

May shrugged and smiled. "I understand. You've still got plenty of time." She said, rubbing Gwen's back.

Gwen smiled. "Thanks."

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard

Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis

Jon Hamm as Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May


	6. Dawn of the Spider-Gwen

Peter hung from the wall, bored out of his mind.

"Hey Dr. Connors," he asked, "What are you working on?"

"My serum." Connors replied. "I'm trying to modify it so that I retain more of my mental faculties when I become the Lizard."

Peter thought for a moment. "Have you tried decreasing the saturation of whatever chemical triggers the change?"

Connors chuckled. "Actually, that was the second thing I tried."

"What was the first?" Peter asked.

Connors looked at him with a small smile. "Increasing the saturation."

Peter chuckled. "Of course."

Scorpion walked around the corner. "Hey Doc, Max needs your help with his conductors."

Connors stood up. "Watch him for me."

Scorpion chuckled. "Why do you think I'm telling you in person instead of texting or calling?"

Connors shrugged as he walked past Scorpion. "You make a good point."

Scorpion turned to the guest chained to the wall. "Hey Spider-Man." He said.

"Scorpion." Peter replied.

Scorpion got a look on his face like he suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, if you gotta take a piss, let one of us know. We got a system rigged up for that."

Peter chuckled. "Actually, since you brought it up, I've been holding it in for hours."

Scorpion pulled out his phone and started typing. "Oh, for security reasons we're only letting you do this a couple times a day, so use them sparingly."

Peter nodded. "Speaking of which, what time is it? And for that matter what day?"

Scorpion finished his message and sent it. "It is currently 3:43 pm on Friday, April 13th, 2022." He looked at Peter. "Happy Friday the 13th."

Peter sighed. "Great, I'm missing the marathon. You couldn't have waited until next week to grab me?"

Scorpion shrugged. "You took the bait. Besides, why would you ever watch an R-rated movie on TV? They always edit out the good stuff anyway."

Peter sighed. "I own the box set. Obviously I wouldn't watch the TV version."

Dr. Connors walked in and sat down at his desk. He typed something into his laptop, then clicked on something, and a transparent wall came down out of the ceiling. He clicked on something else, and the wall became electrified. He typed some more, and a door opened next to Peter, then Peter's chains loosened enough for him to slip out. Peter looked into the newly opened door and saw a bathroom.

"You have five minutes." Connors said.

"Okay." Peter replied. "I gotta ask though, why not have the electric window down all the time?"

Connors sighed. "Because it would be a waste of power."

"Oh." Peter said. "Yeah, that makes sense."

Five minutes later, Peter walked back out into the room and found Electro had joined the others.

"Back to where you were." Connors instructed.

Peter complied. Connors clicked and typed on his laptop, and the chains tightened around Peter's arms and legs, then the electric wall turned off and retreated into the ceiling.

"Max," Connors said. "You're up."

Electro floated over to a wall panel and opened it, exposing a chain that Peter realized was connected to the chains holding him in place.

"Right, here's the situation." Connors said turning to Peter. "We're done waiting for your partner to find us, so you're going to tell us who she is."

Peter figured out the rest. "And if I don't, Dr. Manhattan over there is gonna shock me?"

Electro blinked. "I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult."

Peter chuckled. "Bit of both."

Connors sighed. "Who is your partner?"

Peter took a deep breath. "Spider-Woman."

Scorpion rolled his eyes. "No shit."

"You know what I meant." Connors said. "What is her real name?"

"Sissy Spacek."

Connors looked at Scorpion in confusion.

"Actress." Scorpion said. "Was in Carrie."

Connors nodded to Electro, who sent an electric shock down the chain and into Peter.

Two days later, Gwen Stacy climbed to the top of a four story building and looked down at an abandoned bowling alley below. It had been over a week since Peter had gone missing, and she only had three locations left to check from the ten Doc Ock had given her. Swinging down, she landed on the roof and crawled inside.

45 minutes later, Gwen was slouched down with her mask off and her hood up, leaning back against the wall and sobbing quietly into her hands. After a few minutes, she composed herself, put her mask back on, and jogged out of the building.

That night, Gwen and May were sitting on the couch watching a movie when May looked over and realized Gwen was holding back tears.

"Don't." May said, grabbing the remote and pausing the movie. "Don't hold it in sweetie, that'll only make it worse." She wrapped her arms around Gwen, who hugged May back and let herself burst into tears.

"I'm scared May." Gwen confessed. "Not because I'm pregnant, not because Peter and I are dating. Just because I might never see my best friend again."

"I know it hurts sweetie." May said, rubbing Gwen's back. "Did I ever tell you about the first time Peter told me about you?"

Gwen thought for a moment. "I don't think so."

May chuckled and released Gwen. "Well, it was the first day of second grade."

Gwen looked at her, confused. "We didn't meet until high school."

May nodded. "I know, but that wasn't the first time he encountered you."

Gwen blinked. "Okay."

"I was picking Peter up at the end of the first day, and your mother was picking you up a couple cars ahead. Even back then you had shoulder-length hair. Now, Peter had seen plenty of women with short hair. Hell, he'd seen bald women. But he'd never seen a girl his own age who didn't have long hair." May smiled at the memory. "He was fascinated. Talked my ear off about it the whole drive home. Fast forward eight years, you and Peter came over to work on a school project for the first time and I recognized you immediately."

"Wow." Gwen said.

May nodded. "Funny thing is, I don't think Peter even remembers it. At least he didn't in high school. He might now, I'm not sure."

Gwen chuckled. "Thanks."

May rubbed Gwen's back. "You'll find him sweetie. I know you will."

The next morning, Gwen snuck into an old parking garage. For over an hour she searched everywhere - all four levels, the elevator, the freight elevator, both stairwells, and even the roof, but found nothing. She started searching from the first floor again, and as she walked past the freight elevator she froze. She slowly turned to look at it, wondering why a standalone parking garage had a freight elevator.

Approaching the doors, Gwen managed to pry them open enough for her to slip through. Looking down, she saw the elevator at what appeared to be the bottom, with a single set of doors above it. She crawled down the elevator shaft and pulled the doors open a crack. She peered in and saw a mostly empty room with a large machine in the middle. Opening the doors, she crawled inside and across the ceiling until she was above the machine. Hanging upside down from the ceiling, she pulled out her phone and took a few pictures of the machine from various angles, then crawled back out into the elevator shaft and closed the doors.

Gwen crawled down to the next set of doors and opened them a crack. She peeked in and saw nothing but a wall and a hallway leading to the right. She grabbed the doors and started to open them more, and a moment later the elevator started moving down, revealing another set of doors above the bottom. Gwen crawled inside, closed the doors behind her, and crawled down the hallway ceiling. Reaching the end of the hallway, she peered out into the room and saw a man in a lab coat sitting at a desk in the opposite wall with his back to her. On the far end of the room, Peter was chained to the wall. His eyes briefly looked in her direction.

Backing up so she was out of the scientist's line of sight, Gwen significantly increased her breathing rate, forcing her body to dump adrenaline directly into her bloodstream. As a result, time seemed to slow down as she leapt into action. She swung across the room, perching on the ceiling to the left of the scientist. Before he could react, Gwen fired webs at him, sticking his hands to the desk and covering his mouth. She used a web to close the laptop, then crawled across the ceiling to Peter.

"Hey." Gwen said as she crawled down to him.

"Hey." Peter mumbled, looking and sounding groggy. "You came."

Gwen bit her lip, holding back laughter. "Phrasing."

Peter looked at her with a mix of pride, disbelief, and annoyance. "Did you really just make an Archer reference to the guy who introduced you to that show?"

"Yep." Gwen said as she finished loosening Peter's chains.

Peter smiled. "I'm so proud of you." He looked up at her. "Why are you still on the ceiling?"

Gwen shrugged. "I just kinda assumed the floor was booby-trapped."

Peter chuckled. "You said 'trapped'."

Gwen glared at him through her mask. "Come on." She crawled back across the ceiling with a still-unmasked Peter behind her. She opened the door and they crawled out, with Peter closing it behind them. They crawled up the elevator shaft. They were halfway up when the elevator moved up a floor. A moment later they heard someone shout in frustration.

"Let's get out of here." Peter said as they crawled faster. They barely made it out onto the first floor of the parking garage when they heard metal clanging coming up the elevator shaft. The took off running, and a moment later Scorpion burst through the open doors and fired a stinger at them, missing. They ran up the stairs to the second floor and jumped out of the open side, firing webs and swinging away. Scorpion fired several stingers at them. One grazed Peter's left thigh, knocking him off course and sending him crashing to the ground. Gwen turned around and landed next to Peter, helping him up. They fired their webs and swung away, leaving behind an angry Scorpion.

Later that day, Peter and Gwen left the hospital and started walking back to Gwen's apartment.

"So, how did it go with the doctor?" Peter asked.

Gwen licked her lips. "I didn't go."

Peter blinked. "Why not?"

Gwen closed her eyes, then opened them. "Because I'm not doing it without you. It might be my body, but…what's inside me is yours too."

Peter thought for a moment. "The embryo?"

Gwen nodded. "Yes, thank you. I lost the word there." She looked at Peter. "I need you there Peter. I can't do it without you."

Peter put his arm around Gwen's shoulders. "So when are we going?"

Gwen smiled. "9:00 tomorrow morning. I called while you were getting your leg stitched up."

Peter nodded. "No more crime fighting between now and then."

Gwen burst out laughing. "You read my mind."

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors/Lizard

Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Bill Skarsgård as Max Dillon/Electro

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May


	7. Day of the Spider-Gwen

Gwen Stacy sat in the back of a car, leaning her head on Peter Parker's shoulder while he held her hand. May parked the car in front of the clinic.

"You ready?" May asked, turning to look at the couple in the back seat.

Peter looked at Gwen. Gwen gave him a small smile, then looked at May and nodded. Peter nodded a moment later.

May smiled. "I'll find a spot and wait for you."

Gwen and Peter got out and walked inside, holding hands. They walked up to the front desk, and the man sitting behind it looked up.

"Hi, do you have an appointment?" He asked.

Gwen nodded. "9:00 for Gwen Stacy."

The man checked his computer, then looked at Peter. "And you?"

"I, uh." Peter mumbled. "I'm her boyfriend." He squeezed her hand.

"Okay." The man wrote something down. "You can go with her for now, but you'll have to leave during. You can visit her once it's over."

Peter nodded. "Okay."

The 15 minutes Peter spent waiting outside Gwen's room were the longest 15 minutes he'd ever experienced. When it was finally over, he was brought inside, where Gwen was shakily getting to her feet.

"Hey." He said softly. "You okay?"

Gwen nodded. "I will be."

"You are all set." The doctor said. "Bleeding could occur for up to a week, so I recommend avoiding any sexual activities until then, but beyond that you're good to go."

They walked back out to where May was parked and got in.

"Hey." May greeted them. "Everything go alright?"

"Yep." Gwen replied, leaning her head on Peter's shoulder.

"So, back to your apartment?" May asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"Actually, I was thinking the house if that's okay." Gwen said.

May smiled. "Sweetie, you're always welcome to stay."

Gwen smiled. "Thanks."

20 minutes later they arrived at the Parker residence and went inside. Peter and Gwen went to the living room and sat down on the couch. Peter lay back, and Gwen lay on his chest.

"How are you feeling?" Peter asked.

Gwen took a deep breath. "I don't know. I'm glad I don't have to deal with having a kid before I'm ready." She looked at Peter. "Before we're ready. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder what if…"

"What if you had gone through with the pregnancy?" Peter asked.

Gwen nodded.

"Do you wanna know what I think?" Peter asked.

Gwen turned and propped herself up on his chest. "Yes."

Peter thought for a moment. "I think any kid we have would be guaranteed to have powers. I think you would make a great mom, and I would be there for you and the kid no matter what." He took a deep breath. "I agree that we're not ready, but if it did happen I think we could make it work." He looked down at Gwen and saw tears on her cheeks. "Happy or sad?" He asked.

"Happy." Gwen said, hugging Peter tightly. "I think that was exactly what I need to hear."

May walked in carrying a tray with two mugs. "Hey, I made hot chocolate."

Gwen sat up. "Thanks."

May nodded and set the tray down on the coffee table. "Okay I was outside when Peter said his whole thing." She looked at Peter. "Did you mean that?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, every word."

May looked at Gwen. "Never let him go."

Gwen giggled. "Trust me, I plan on keeping him."

May smiled and stood up. "I'll leave you two alone." She walked out of the room.

"So." Peter said thoughtfully as Gwen took a sip of cocoa. "We have up to a week off. What do you wanna do?"

Gwen snuggled into Peter's chest. "Ask me later. Just hold me."

Peter checked his watch. "It's 10:20 am."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Peter, I just had...well, you know. Shut up and hold me."

"Okay." Peter kissed Gwen's forehead and held her tightly. A few minutes later she fell asleep. Peter wasn't tired, but he lay there for the three hours she was asleep so he wouldn't disturb her.

Gwen woke up and looked up at Peter. "Did you fall asleep too?"

Peter shook his head.

Surprised, Gwen asked "How long was I asleep?"

"About three hours."

Gwen blinked. "You were just laying there?"

Peter chuckled. "You looked so peaceful. I didn't wanna wake you up."

Gwen looked at him knowingly. "How long have your legs been asleep?"

"About two hours." Peter replied. "And I've had to pee for about 20 minutes now."

Gwen sat up. "You go do that."

Peter carefully got to his feet, then walked out of the room. Gwen pulled out her phone and scrolled through social media.

A few minutes later Peter came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, and leaned down. Gwen looked up, and Peter kissed her on the forehead.

"How are you feeling?" Peter asked.

"Better." Gwen replied, her face brightening as she beamed up at him. "Also kinda hungry."

"I'll make you some Mac & Cheese." Peter said, walking towards the kitchen.

"I can do it." Gwen sat up.

Peter stopped and turned back. "I know you can, but you've done enough today. I'm gonna spoil you today." He turned to walk away.

"Peter?"

Peter stopped and looked back. "Yeah?"

Gwen wiped a tear away. "I…" She looked into Peter's eyes, and he could see the love in them.

Peter smiled warmly. "I know." He turned and walked into the kitchen.

That night, Peter was awakened by the sound of heavy breathing. Opening his eyes, he saw Gwen sitting up clutching her chest.

"Hey." He said quietly, sitting up. "What's up?"

"I'm fine." She replied. "Just a bad dream."

Peter put a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Tell me."

Gwen took a deep breath. "We had a baby."

"Okay." Peter said softly, rubbing her back. "Why was it a bad dream?"

Gwen shrugged. "I don't know. It's like when you're watching a movie and you get a strong sense of dread but you don't know why."

Peter nodded. "I know the feeling."

Four days later, Gwen was flipping through channels when she flipped past a news report that caught her eye. She went back to the channel and turned up the volume.

"...some of the prisoners have been recaptured, but at least 30 are still on the loose." The male anchor was saying. "Sources say that among the escapees are cannibalistic murderer Edgar Garris, former scientist turned criminal Dr. Otto Octavius, and nine members of the gang Los Hermanos Demonios."

Gwen snapped to attention. "Peter!" She shouted.

She heard loud footsteps scrambling down the stairs. A moment later Peter burst into the room with wet hair and a towel around his waist. "What's up?" He asked.

Gwen burst out laughing. "Okay it's not a code red. You can go change."

"Oh, okay." Peter went back upstairs. He returned a few minutes later in a t-shirt and sweatpants. "What's up?"

"There was a prison break." Gwen said as she typed something on her phone. "Doc Ock was one of the ones who escaped."

"That's just great." Peter sat down. "Did Davis get back to you about the machine you found?"

Gwen sighed. "Yeah, they have no idea." She pulled up the pictures on her phone. "They recognize parts of it, but they have no idea what it is." She pointed to the picture. "That's the countdown timer from a bomb." She swiped to the next picture. "That's the circular door from an airlock on a submarine." She swiped three pictures ahead. "That's an old VHS player." She looked at Peter. "They have no idea what it's all for."

Peter thought for a moment. "Maybe it's a MacGuffin."

"Peter, we just ate two hours ago." It was only after she spoke that Gwen realized what Peter had actually said. "Did you seriously just say that?" She asked.

Peter was laughing hard. "Holy crap you thought I said-"

"Peter." Gwen cut him off.

"Yeah?" Peter asked.

"It's April 21st. Do you wanna get laid before Christmas?"

Peter blinked. "Yeah."

Gwen looked at him. "Then it's very important that you don't finish that sentence."

Peter nodded. "Okay."

"What do we do?" Gwen mumbled to herself. "What do we do?"

Peter paced back and forth. "What about the alert system you and Eddie set up?"

Gwen shook her head. "Those batteries only lasted a couple weeks tops. At this point they're useless."

Peter sat down next to Gwen and put a hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing?"

Gwen took a deep breath and put her hand over his. "Better, thanks. No bleeding since yesterday morning, so I think I'm in the clear in that regard."

"That's good." Peter squeezed her shoulder.

"What about you?" Gwen looked at Peter. "How are you holding up?"

"Pretty good, all things considered." Peter chuckled. "Do you remember the night you told me you were pregnant?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah." She replied with a small smile.

"Well, the reason I woke up in the first place is because your mattress is more firm than I'm used to."

Gwen laughed softly. "Yeah, sorry about that. When I was a kid my mattress was way too soft, and when I was 5 I had back issues for about a week before my parents realized it was the mattress. Since then I've just gotten used to it."

"Well, hopefully I get used to it someday." Peter said.

Gwen smiled. "Me too."

Peter thought for a moment. "It's probably pointless, but we could always check out the basement they kept me in. You said there were two other sublevels, right?"

"At least." Gwen nodded and stood up. "It's worth a shot. Let's go get changed. I'll call Officer Davis and let him know we might need backup."

25 minutes later they arrived at the parking garage. Gwen started to pull the doors open, and Peter pushed the button.

"Really?" Gwen asked, glaring at Peter.

"What?" Peter asked innocently. "Did I steal your moment?"

Gwen shrugged. "Yeah, kinda."

The elevator dinged, and they got in. Gwen pressed B1, and it brought them down. They got out, crawling across the ceiling, and found the machine in Gwen's pictures still there, except now it was connected to the ceiling by some kind of tube.

"This is weird." Gwen said. "If they abandoned this place then why is this still here?"

Peter shrugged. "No clue. You were right though. That's definitely the door from a submarine airlock."

They checked the second sublevel, which was empty, then moved down to the third. They crawled out onto the ceiling of a large empty room and noticed scuff marks on the floor.

"They definitely moved something out of here." Gwen said.

"Probably piece by piece." Peter agreed.

Gwen looked around. "Is that a camera?"

Peter looked where she was pointing. "Shit! It's a trap!"

As if on cue, the elevator started moving up on its own. Above them, they faintly heard what could only be the airlock door opening, followed by the sound of water flowing.

"Elevator shaft!" Gwen started running with Peter right behind her. They climbed up the shaft as water started pouring out of the first sublevel. Peter stopped and forced open the doors of the second sublevel, then resumed climbing.

"That'll buy us some time, give the water more area to fill." He explained.

"Good thinking." Gwen replied.

They reached the top of the shaft and found the elevator stopped at ground level. They pushed on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Shit!" Gwen pulled out her phone and dialed a number. "Officer Davis? Spider-Woman. We need search and rescue. The basement is flooding and we're trapped. Yes. Send the freight elevator up. No, not down, send it up. Thank you." She hung up. "They'll be here in a few minutes." She told Peter.

Peter looked down. "Looks like we've got maybe three or four."

They resumed trying to move the elevator to no avail. Down below, the water had filled the all three sublevels and was now rising faster due to the smaller area of the elevator shaft.

Gwen pulled off her mask. "Peter, I'm scared."

Peter removed his mask as well. "Me too."

Gwen kissed him. "I love you. More than anything."

Peter embraced her as the water hit their ankles. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

They took deep breaths, and a moment later they were underwater. After a minute and a half, Gwen's lungs started to burn. Seeing her discomfort, Peter cupped her face and kissed her. Gwen felt him exhaling into her mouth, and her eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was doing. Pushing him away, she shook her head frantically, but it was too late. Gwen forced herself to look away as Peter lost consciousness. Thirty seconds later the world went black.

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May


	8. Web of the Spider-Gwen

Story © 2019 Ryan Hill

Characters María Álvarez and Isabel Álvarez © 2019 Ryan Hill

Gwen Stacy woke with a start, gasping for breath. She looked around and saw she was in a hospital room.

Gwen leaned back and groaned. "Not again." She whispered to herself. "Hello?" She tried to call out, but her voice was hoarse and it hurt her throat to speak above a whisper. A minute later the door opened, and a nurse stepped inside. Her name tag said B. Hardy.

"Miss Stacy, glad to see you're awake." She said. "I'm Bianca, Dr. Iverson's assistant. He'll be here in a minute or two."

Gwen nodded. "Where's Peter?" She whispered as loud as she could manage.

"Sorry, I don't know." Bianca replied. "I just got here 20 minutes ago."

Gwen nodded. A moment later Dr. Iverson walked in carrying a tablet and a cup of water. "Miss Stacy. Sorry we have to keep meeting like this." He said, handing Gwen the cup.

Gwen managed a small smile as she took a sip. "Where's Peter?"

"Next door." Iverson replied. Behind him, Bianca left the room. "It's a good thing you called for help when you did."

Gwen blinked. "How long have we been here?"

"Just under two days." Iverson replied.

Gwen closed her eyes. "How long were we underwater before the got to us?"

Iverson took a deep breath. "We don't know exactly. Minute and a half maybe. Less than two minutes for sure. Oxygen deprivation is a tricky thing. Our scans show no signs of brain damage in either of you, but we won't know for sure until Peter wakes up."

They heard a loud gasp in the room next door.

"Speak of the devil." Iverson said, surprised. "That's him."

Gwen turned to get out of the bed. "I wanna see him."

Iverson put up a hand. "Not yet." He said softly. "Soon. I need to check on him first."

Gwen climbed back into the bed. "Okay."

"It shouldn't take very long." Iverson said as he walked out.

Six minutes later Iverson opened the door and poked his head in. "He seems fine. No memory loss. You can see him now."

Gwen carefully got out of bed and followed Iverson into the room next door. Peter's eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Peter!" Gwen wanted to run to him, but she still felt weak, so she walked as fast as her legs would let her. Peter held his arms out, and Gwen felt tears roll down her cheeks as she embraced him.

"Gwen!" He said weakly as he hugged her tightly.

Gwen pulled back and looked at him. "Why? Why did you give me the last of your air?"

Peter looked down, then back at Gwen. "I knew help wasn't too far away. I wanted to give you a chance of staying conscious until they found us."

Gwen kissed him. "Thank you. Don't ever do that again." She looked him in the eye. "We're a team Peter. If we die it's going to be together." She looked down.

"Hey, what is it?" Peter asked, putting a hand on her cheek.

Gwen held back a sob. "I had to watch you lose consciousness." She looked at Peter. "That was the scariest thing I've ever seen."

Peter pulled her into another hug. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about that."

"You're forgiven." Gwen whispered.

Three days later, Gwen and Peter were having a picnic on a web between a pair of five story buildings when Gwen's phone rang. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Spider-Woman?" A familiar voice asked. "It's Officer Davis. I need a favor."

"Who is it?" Peter mouthed.

"Davis." Gwen mouthed back, then turned on speaker phone. "What's up?" She asked Davis.

"I'm outside a house where a quadruple homicide took place." Davis explained. "The only one alive inside is a young girl. The first responders were thrown out the front window together as I arrived. I think…I think she has powers."

"What's the address?" Gwen asked.

"2099 Leonardi Street." Davis replied.

Gwen checked her map. "We'll be there in a few minutes. Hold tight."

Four minutes later Gwen and Peter landed on the street behind Davis and several other cops who were in cover behind their vehicles.

"What's the situation?" Peter asked.

"Four dead inside." Davis replied. "One girl alive. Two officers mildly injured."

Gwen bit her lip. "So she killed them?"

Davis nodded. "We think so, but there's more. First responders said she had bruises on her arms. Right now we think she killed them in self defense."

Gwen thought for a moment. "Why didn't she run?"

Davis chuckled. "Because we got lucky. There was no 911 call. The first responders happened to be driving by at the right moment to hear the fight."

"Let's go in." Peter said.

Davis nodded. "Good luck."

Peter and Gwen walked up to the house and went inside.

"Hello?" Gwen called out as they looked around.

She got no answer. Peter looked around the corner into the kitchen and immediately looked away. "Found the bodies." He said, looking slightly pale. Gwen stepped around him and looked into the kitchen. One man had a chair leg through his heart, the second had the dining room table separating his head and body, the third had several knives in his chest, and the fourth had a broken neck and a dented pot on the floor next to him. Suddenly getting the feeling someone was watching her, Gwen looked up across the hallway and into the living room, where she saw a pair of purple eyes watching her from behind the TV stand.

"Peter?" Gwen asked quietly.

Not seeing the eyes but hearing the caution in Gwen's voice, Peter looked at her. "Yeah?"

Gwen kept watching the eyes. "I think I found the girl."

Peter slowly walked over to stand next to Gwen. "I see her too. Does she have purple eyes?"

"Looks like it." Gwen took a small step closer. "Don't make any sudden moves. I think she's scared."

Peter chuckled. "I can tell."

Gwen took several more steps closer. Once she was in the living room, she asked "Are you okay?"

"¡Manténgase alejado!" The girl shouted, hiding behind the TV stand.

"Um, how good is your Spanish?" Peter asked Gwen.

"Pretty good." Gwen realized something. "What about you? We were in the same Spanish class."

Peter shrugged. "I forgot most of it."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I think she said to stay back."

"Okay." Peter replied. "Tell her we don't wanna hurt her. Say we just wanna talk."

Gwen thought for a moment. "Solo queremos hablar." She said. "¿Hablas inglés?"

The eyes reappeared, and the girl shook her head. "Only a little." She replied.

"Ask her who the men are." Peter suggested.

Gwen nodded and sat down on a nearby couch. Peter sat next to her. After a moment, Gwen asked "¿Quiénes son estos hombres?"

There was a long moment of silence before the girl answered. "Mi padre y sus amigos."

"Her dad and his friends." Gwen translated. "¿Qué pasó?" She asked the girl.

There was a longer silence. "Intenté irme y me hicieron daño, así que los maté, pero luego vino la policía."

Gwen thought for a moment. "They hurt her when she tried to leave, so she killed them, but then the cops came." She looked back at the girl. "Si estás diciendo la verdad, entonces no hiciste nada malo. Te estabas protegiendo."

"What's that?" Peter asked.

"If she's telling the truth then she did nothing wrong and was protecting herself." Gwen explained.

"¿Puedo usar el baño?" Peter asked.

The girl and Gwen both blinked from surprise. "Sí." The girl replied. "Por el pasillo, primera puerta a la izquierda."

Gwen looked at Peter. "I thought you didn't know Spanish?"

Peter chuckled. "That's one of the few things I do remember. 'Izquierda' is left, right?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah."

"Cool. Be right back." Peter walked down the hallway.

Gwen turned back to the girl. "¿Estás bien con salir?"

The girl shook her head. "No confio en ti."

Gwen chuckled. "No te culpo."

The girl stood up slightly. "Eres la Mujer Araña?"

Gwen cocked her head. "¿Qué? Lo siento, no entiendo."

Down the hall, the toilet flushed, and the sink turned on.

The girl rolled her eyes. "You are the Spider-Woman?"

"Sí." Gwen nodded. "No es tan divertido como piensas."

The girl giggled quietly. "Te creo."

Gwen smiled. "Tus ojos son hermosos."

The girl looked down. "Gracias."

"De nada." Gwen replied. "¿Cómo te llamas?"

Peter walked out of the bathroom and rejoined Gwen. "What'd I miss?"

Gwen looked at him. "She doesn't want to come out because she doesn't trust us. Or me. Spanish is almost as complicated as American English. Anyway, I told her being Spider-Woman isn't as much fun as she'd think and she believes me. I asked her her name, then you joined us. Oh, I also said she has beautiful eyes."

Peter turned to the girl and pulled off his mask. "Soy Peter." He said. "¿Cómo te llamas?"

The girl stood up a little more. "María. María Álvarez."

Gwen removed her mask as well. "Soy Gwen. Un placer conocerte María."

María smiled and stood up fully. She had black hair and was wearing an unzipped hoodie over a faded _Escape Plan_ t-shirt that was a size too big.

Peter smiled back. "¿Cuantos años tienes María?"

María blushed lightly. "Catorce."

"Fourteen." Gwen told Peter.

"I know." Peter replied. "I forgot most of it, but I can still count to 20. 50 if I think about it. Ask if she has powers, and if she does ask if she'll show us."

Gwen turned back to María. "¿Tienes superpoderes María?"

María nodded. "Sí."

Gwen and Peter smiled. "¿Me los puedes enseñar?" Gwen asked.

María smiled back. "Sí. Ten cuidado."

"What's that?" Peter asked.

"Be careful." Gwen translated.

As they watched, María reached her hand out towards a clock on the wall. She stared at it intensely, and after a moment the clock floated away from the wall until it stopped in the middle of the room. María lowered her hand, and the clock fell to the floor. Gwen and Peter were grinning like idiots.

"I think she's telekinetic." Peter thought out loud.

"Eres telequinética." Gwen said to María.

María nodded.

"Wait." Peter said. "Why didn't she at least try to run?"

Gwen looked at María. "¿Por qué no te fuiste después de que mataste a estos hombres?"

María looked down. "Mi madre."

Peter leaned forward. "¿Donde esta ella?"

"Ella esta comprando." María replied quietly.

Something dawned on Gwen. "No tienes miedo de la policía, ¿verdad?"

María shook her head and took off her hoodie, revealing bruises on her forearms. "No." She replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Gwen bit her lip. "¿Tienes miedo de tu madre?"

María nodded. "Ella llegará a casa pronto."

Peter looked at Gwen. "I understood about half of that."

Gwen looked at Peter, who could see she was unnerved. "She's scared of her mother, not the police, that's why she didn't try to escape. Her mother will be home soon."

"Oh." Peter's eyes widened. "We have to help her."

"My thoughts exactly." Gwen said. "But we also need to keep in mind that she might be lying to manipulate us."

Peter nodded. "I don't think so, but it's entirely possible."

Gwen turned to María. "Si lo que...crap, ummm…" She put her head in her hands and thought for a moment, then looked back at María. "Si lo que dices es verdad, podemos ayudarte."

María nodded and slowly came out from behind the TV. "I...know you have no…razón? Reason to…" She bit her lip and snapped her fingers in an attempt to remember something. "¿Cómo se dice confiar?" She finally asked.

"¿Confiar?" Gwen thought for a moment. "Confianza. Trust."

"Sí, trust." María said, relieved. "I know you have no reason to trust me."

Gwen licked her lips. "Um, hang on. Un momento." She closed her eyes to think. A few seconds later she opened them. "Confiaremos en ti hasta que nos des una razón para no hacerlo."

Nodding, María took a step closer. Suddenly, they heard a car pull up outside, a door slam shut, and a woman's voice shouting in a mix of English and Spanish.

"¡Mi madre!" María groaned. "¡No puedo volver con esa perra malvada!"

Gwen blinked. "What? ¿Que?"

Peter shrugged. "All I understood was 'My mother'."

Gwen looked at María "Lo siento, no entendí todo eso."

María walked away from the window and towards Gwen and Peter. "I can't go with her." She said with fear in her eyes.

"Entendemos." Gwen assured her.

"That's 'We understand,' right?" Peter asked.

Gwen nodded. "Go outside. Tell her mother she's not here. I'll take her out the back, and we can tell the police the truth once her mother is gone."

"Got it." They put their masks back on, and Peter walked out the front door, where he saw a Mexican woman in her mid 40s arguing with the cops.

"Excuse me ma'am." Peter said as he walked over to her. "What's the problem?"

The woman turned her head towards the new voice, and Peter saw recognition in her eyes, followed by annoyance and frustration. "Sal de aquí, loco de ocho patas." She snapped. "Estos hombres deberían arrestarte."

Peter put his hands over his mouth and gasped dramatically. "Si mi madre te escuchara decir eso, ¡te lavaría la boca con jabón!"

Looking genuinely offended, the woman turned to Davis and asked "Why aren't you arresting this criminal?"

"What criminal?" Davis asked, feigning ignorance.

The woman turned red. "Right there! Him!"

Davis blinked. "What, behind Spider-Man?"

The woman groaned in frustration. "¡Maldito idiota! It IS Spider-Man!"

Davis gave her a stern look. "El hecho de que hables español no significa que no podamos entenderte." He said with a small smirk.

The woman turned a brighter shade of red and turned away, muttering to herself.

"Has she said anything useful?" Peter asked Davis.

Davis shrugged. "Her name is Isabel Álvarez. She lives here with her husband Guillermo and her daughter María, and we have no right to stop her from going into her house."

Peter nodded. "I'm guessing you explained that her house is a crime scene?"

Davis chuckled. "Four times, actually. She either doesn't understand or just doesn't give a shit."

Isabel walked back over to them. Before she could speak, Davis held up a hand. "Before you start, Spider-Man is not wanted for any crimes. He is here because we asked him to come."

Isabel considered this, then put her hands on her hips. "You have no right to keep me out here. This is my house. My husband and daughter are in there. You have to let me in!"

Peter took a step forward. "Ma'am, your husband and his friends are dead, and your daughter is gone."

Isabel groaned. "Liar! My daughter knows better than to run away!" Turning to the house, she shouted "María! ¡Sé que estás ahí! ¡Ven aquí!"

Peter moved in front of Isabel. "Ma'am, your daughter left when she heard you shouting. She told me that while you were shopping she tried to leave the house, and your husband and his friends hurt her to stop her, so she killed them to protect herself."

"Ha!" Isabel laughed. "You believe her? She's a liar! Guillermo would never lay a hand on her!"

Peter crossed his arms. "Then who gave her the bruises on her arms? You?"

Furrowing her brow, Isabel lashed out to slap Peter, who caught her wrist. "You all saw that right?" He asked Davis and the other three cops.

"I don't know about these guys." A female cop replied. "I just saw this woman try to assault you."

"Me too." Davis said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs. "Ma'am, spread your legs and put your hands behind your back."

"¡Apártate!" Isabel snapped. "María!" She shouted, turning to walk towards the house.

"Ma'am, do not move." Davis warned her.

"¡Vete a la mierda!" Isabel said over her shoulder as she walked away from them.

Davis caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder. "I'm not telling you again. Get ba-woah!"

He was cut off when Isabel pushed him off of her, sending him flying through the air and into one of the police cars.

"Freeze!" The female cop shouted, drawing her taser. "Mrs. Álvarez, do not move!"

"¡Malditos policias!" Isabel shouted, waving her arm and knocking Peter and the other three cops to the ground. She stormed into the house, and a minute later Peter heard her shout in frustration.

"Where's her daughter?" Davis asked as he rose to his knees.

"María told us her mother was abusing her. Spider-Woman took her out the back door when Isabel showed up." Peter replied, stumbling and catching himself against a police car. "That's why I didn't mention Spider-Woman."

"Smart." Davis turned to the other cops. "Fall back. We're not trained or prepared for this."

"Copy that." The female cop replied.

As the cops got in their cars and left, Peter fired a web and swung away.

"Gwen?" He asked into his microphone. "Can you hear me?"

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah, loud and clear." Gwen replied. "What's up?"

"Please tell me you got María somewhere safe." Peter said as he fired another web and swung around a corner.

"Yeah, we just got to May's house. Why?"

"Mrs. Álvarez has telekinesis too, only a lot more powerful." Peter explained. "María was right, I got all kinds of red flags from her even before she knocked me on my butt."

"María filled me in on some of that." Gwen said. "Get here quick."

"On my way." Peter replied. "I'm seven minutes out."

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Dafne Keen as María Álvarez

Marina de Tavira as Isabel Álvarez

Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis

Wyatt Russell as Doctor Harry Iverson

Cynthia Erivo as Bianca Hardy


	9. Life of the Spider-Gwen

Story © 2019 Ryan Hill

Characters María Álvarez and Isabel Álvarez © 2019 Ryan Hill

Curt Connors sat at a desk, studying his serum under a microscope. He was preparing a new slide when the door behind him opened and Doc Ock walked in.

"Doctor." Doc Ock greeted him.

"Doctor." Connors replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Believe it or not, we have a visitor."

Connors turned around and saw a Mexican woman in her mid 40s who looked mildly annoyed.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Isabel Álvarez." She replied.

Connors nodded. "Tell me Mrs. Álvarez, how the hell did you find us?"

Isabel snorted. "Hombre Pulpo was crawling around outside as I drove by." She said, pointing at Doc Ock behind her.

Connors leaned forward and folded his hands. "What can we do for you?"

Isabel folded her arms. "Spider-Man. He's keeping my daughter away from me."

"Against her will?" Doc Ock asked skeptically.

Isabel groaned. "No. She's just a child. She doesn't know what's best for her yet. She thinks I'm the devil because I can be strict."

Connors considered this. "I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but why haven't you gone to the police?"

Isabel chuckled. "Are you kidding? They're on his side! They think he's a hero!"

"Fair enough." Connors replied. "But why are you here? Why did you come to us?"

Sighing, Isabel raised her arm towards a pop machine in the corner, lifting it up off the ground and moving it across the room, unplugging it in the process. She set it down next to Connors' desk, then lowered her arm.

"Because María has powers too." She said. "And because you are enemies of Spider-Man."

Connors smiled. "Mrs. Álvarez, I think we can help you."

Gwen Stacy walked downstairs and into the kitchen, yawning as she opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of cereal. She was pouring it into a bowl when she heard someone exclaim "¡Maldición!"

Setting down the box, Gwen walked towards the voice and found María angrily pressing buttons on the TV remote.

"What's wrong? Oops." Gwen caught herself. "¿Qué está mal?"

María chuckled. "I know what 'what's wrong' means."

"Right." Gwen sat down to María's left. "What's up?"

"I don't know how to…" Pausing for a moment, María put her head in her hands and groaned. "No puedo leer mucho inglés, así que no sé qué botón del control remoto activa los subtítulos en español."

Gwen looked at her. "You can't read very much English, so you don't know…" She leaned back. "Now I know how you feel."

María giggled.

"Um…" Gwen racked her brain. "You don't know how to turn on Spanish subtitles on the TV?"

María nodded. "Sí."

Gwen looked at the TV and realized it was in black and white despite being on a news channel.

"¿Cómo lo hiciste en blanco y negro?" She asked. "Ni siquiera estoy enojado, solo impresionado y confundido."

María shrugged. "No sé." She and Gwen giggled.

"Why are you impressed and confused?" Peter asked, walking down the stairs. "And what don't you know?"

"Come see." María giggled.

Peter walked in wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. "Why is the TV in black and white?"

Gwen and María looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Déjame ver." Peter said, walking over and sitting down on María's right. María handed him the remote.

"Jeez, how did you do this?" He mumbled as he fiddled with the remote.

María shrugged. "No sé."

"She was trying to turn on Spanish subtitles." Gwen explained.

María nodded. "I speak some English but I read it very little."

Peter licked his lips. "I don't know if there are any. Anything live wouldn't be able to, and all that leaves is pre-recorded shows and their reruns." He turned to María. "Tengo DVDs de 'Whose Line is it Anyway?' ¿Quieres ver eso?"

María's eyes widened. "¿Con Drew Carey?"

"Yeah. You've seen it?" Peter asked, visibly excited.

María nodded. "Sí, pero solo los episodios más nuevos con Aisha Tyler."

Peter blinked. "Okay, I got less than half of that, but since you mentioned Aisha Tyler I'm guessing you've seen the revival seasons?" He looked back and forth between María and Gwen.

"Yeah, she's only seen the new ones." Gwen replied.

"I'll be right back." Peter hopped up and went upstairs.

Gwen chuckled. "I haven't seen him this excited since he introduced me to the show."

María smiled. "¿Tú vas a salir?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, for a couple months."

"Who asked?" María asked.

"She did." Peter said as he came down the stairs. "It was the best day of my life up until that point."

Gwen put on a cheesy smile. "Awww."

Peter chuckled as he walked over and put a disc into the player. "Whose cereal is that on the counter?"

"Shit, that's mine." Gwen said. "Shh." She added, looking at María as she walked into the kitchen.

María rolled her eyes. "Mierda, mear, joder, papaya, mamón, hijo de puta, tetas."

Peter's jaw dropped. "Did you just say the Seven Dirty Words?"

María smiled. "En español."

Peter held up his hand, and María gave him a high-five.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You two are such nerds."

"Thanks." Peter said.

"Gracias." María said at the same time.

Gwen smiled as she poured milk over her cereal. "You're welcome."

Peter stood up and turned to María. "It's all yours." He handed her the DVD remote. "This is the subtitles. I think the second or third option is Spanish."

"Thank you." María said, pressing play.

"Good evening, and welcome to 'Whose Line is it Anyway?'" Drew Carey's voice said. "Tonight's performers are...the love starved Brad Sherwood, America's sweetheart; Kathy Kinney, Canada's favorite TV dad; Colin Mochrie, and Mr. Tall-and-Goofy himself; Ryan Stiles!"

Peter walked into the kitchen and gave Gwen a quick peck on the cheek. "So what's the plan?"

Gwen shrugged as she took a bite of cereal. "Lay low until Mrs. Álvarez finds us or is captured or killed. Or we could go out and look for her."

In the living room, María burst out laughing.

Peter nodded and pulled out a bowl. "Either one works. We could even take turns going out and staying here if we need to."

"If we need to." Gwen stood up and walked over to the sink as Peter poured cereal into his bowl. "María?"

María paused the show and looked up. "Sí?"

Gwen finished rinsing her bowl and walked into the living room. Peter poured milk over his cereal and carried it with him as he followed her.

"How powerful is your mother?" Gwen asked, sitting down next to María.

María took a deep breath. "Más fuerte que yo."

Peter sat down in the armchair. "How much stronger?" He asked, taking a bite of cereal.

"A lot." María replied, looking down. "Nunca entrené o practiqué o nada."

Peter swallowed the bite. "I understood the second half of that."

Gwen rolled her eyes at Peter. "She's never trained or practiced."

"Oh." Peter said. "We could help with that."

María lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, just let me finish breakfast first."

Gwen looked at María. "Did you eat?"

María nodded. "Sí." She grabbed the remote and pressed play.

A few minutes later, Peter finished eating and went to the kitchen to put his dishes in the sink. He returned to the living room, and the three of them finished the episode. Once it was over, Gwen went upstairs. She returned a minute later carrying car keys and her and Peter's suits.

"May said we can use her car as long as it's not involved in the actual training." She said, tossing Peter his suit.

Ten minutes later the trio climbed into May's car, and Peter pulled out onto the street.

"Where to?" He asked.

"Jefferson Park." Gwen replied, pulling out her phone. "They tore down the old playground a couple years ago but never got around to building a new one, and there's a nice open field nearby."

Peter nodded. "Got it."

Gwen put her phone to her ear. "Officer Davis? Spider-Woman. She's fine, thanks for asking. Yeah, we're going to Jefferson Park to help her practice so she can control her powers, so if you get any calls about two Spider people fighting someone there's no danger. Thanks a bunch." She hung up.

15 minutes later Peter pulled over and parked next to the curb. The three of them got out, and Peter and Gwen removed clothes covering their suits, then put on their masks.

"Alright, María." Peter said as they walked out into the field. "Do you wanna work on attacking or defending yourself first?"

María shrugged. "Defenderé, supongo."

"Okay." Peter looked at Gwen. "How do we wanna do this?"

Gwen thought for a moment. "I have a few ideas."

They walked out into the field. "Alright, let's start out with something simple." Gwen said.

"¿Cómo cuáles?" María asked.

"Like this." Gwen turned and fired a web projectile at a nearby tree.

María bit her lip. "Pegarme."

Peter blinked. "Did she just say-"

"Hit me." María cut him off. "So I know what I'm defending against."

"Okay." Gwen fired at María, hitting her in the chest.

"Ugh!" María grunted, stumbling back a couple steps and hunching over. She took a couple deep breaths, then stood up straight. "I'm ready."

"Okay." Gwen said. "Let's start."

15 feet to Gwen's right, at María's 10 o'clock, Peter fired a web projectile. María held up a hand too late, and it flew harmlessly over her shoulder and landed in the grass behind her.

María glared at him. "Intenta pegarme. I want it to feel real."

Peter shrugged. "Okay." He took a few steps to the right, then fired. María raised her arm, and the web hit her just below her heart. He fired again, and she stopped the projectile few inches from her head. To María's right, Gwen fired, hitting María's right thigh. This continued for half an hour, with Gwen and Peter moving slowly and firing intermittently, and María gradually blocking more and more shots. Eventually María held up a hand, signaling for them to stop.

"¿Necesitas un descanso?" Gwen asked.

María shook her head. "I'm fine. I want it more difficult."

Gwen and Peter looked at each other and shrugged, then looked back at María.

"If you think you're ready." Gwen said.

María nodded, and Gwen and Peter resumed circling her, moving faster and more often, firing more often, and occasionally changing directions.

After 45 minutes, María held up a hand for them to stop. She had bits of webbing all over her arms, legs, and torso.

"Estoy listo para atacar." She said.

Peter looked at María. "You're ready to attack?"

María nodded.

Gwen looked at Peter. "How do we wanna do this?"

Peter thought for a moment. "I actually have an idea."

A minute later Gwen and Peter had made a layer of web about three inches thick between a pair of trees. They stepped back, and María thrust a hand toward it. A small indent briefly appeared in the web, but quickly disappeared. Gritting her teeth, she punched the air, and a hole appeared in the web. She spent the next 30 seconds punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing, and even karate chopping holes in the web until it was more holes than web.

"Again." María said.

Gwen and Peter made another web, this one twice as thick, and it took María a minute and a half to reduce it to looking like a net. After that, they returned to May's house and found dinner waiting for them.

The next day, Tuesday, it poured rain all day, so they sat in the living room watching Whose Line.

Wednesday came and so did the sun, so they returned to the park.

Four hours in, María blocked four projectiles in a row, only to have a fifth hit her in the back of the head and send her stumbling forward. She dropped down on one knee and caught herself with her right hand. She raised her left arm to block a projectile from Peter, looked up, and saw two projectiles from Gwen half a second before they hit her in the gut simultaneously, knocking the wind out of her and putting her on her back. She lay there for 20 seconds before she was finally able to catch her breath.

"You okay?" Peter asked as he and Gwen jogged over.

María gave them a thumbs up as she clutched her gut with her other arm. "Creo que me dejaste sin aliento."

Gwen crouched down and cocked her head, confused. "I left you breathless?"

María burst out laughing, holding her chest. "No! Not like that." She thought for a moment. "Me cortaste la respiración."

Gwen smacked her forehead lightly. "I knocked the breath out of you."

María nodded and pulled the webbing off of her _Escape Plan_ t-shirt. "You are fast."

Peter thought for a moment. "Instead of trying to block each shot as it comes, try creating a shield around your entire body."

María considered this. "Eso podría funcionar."

Peter held out a hand. María took it, and he helped her up.

"Ready?" Gwen asked.

Nodding, María closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them. She raised her arms out to the sides. "Ready."

Gwen and Peter circled María faster than before, firing often and randomly. María's eyes switched back and forth between them, and even though she never moved her arms, every shot they fired stopped just outside María's arms' reach and fell to the ground. After a couple minutes, they stopped, and María lowered her arms. To María's right, Gwen hip-fired a surprise shot, which María stopped half an inch from her head without moving.

"Creo que estoy empiezo a acostumbrarme a esto." María said, panting lightly as she zipped up her hoodie.

"You think you're starting…" Peter cocked his head. "What was that?"

María chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I am starting to get used to this."

"You're definitely improving." Gwen said, patting María's shoulder, and María tensed up slightly. "Sorry. You okay?"

"No eres tú, es mi puta madre." María replied quietly, rubbing her forearms.

Peter pulled off his mask. "How about we go get something to eat?"

María nodded. "Estaba apunto de decir que tengo hambre."

45 minutes later they sat in a local restaurant. Gwen was halfway through her bacon cheeseburger, Peter was almost done with his shrimp fettuccine alfredo, and María was devouring her chicken parmesan mac & cheese. All three of them had milkshakes.

"So María," Peter said in between bites, "When did you get your powers? Or were you born with them?"

María slurped down the last of her shake. "Siempre los he tenido."

Peter swallowed a piece of shrimp. "You've always had them?"

María nodded. "Sí."

Gwen looked at Peter. "How is it that the other day you understood when I said I was impressed and confused, but you weren't sure what she just said?"

Peter shrugged. "My language memory is strangely selective. There are simple phrases I struggle to remember or just straight up don't know, and there are complex sentences I can remember just like that." He snapped for emphasis.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Really." Peter said with a smirk.

"Prove it."

Peter thought for a moment. "No sé quién es usted. No se lo que quieres. Si estás buscando un rescate, puedo decirte que no tengo dinero, pero lo que sí tengo es un conjunto de habilidades muy particular. Habilidades que he adquirido a lo largo de una carrera muy larga. Habilidades que me convierten en una pesadilla para gente como tú. Si dejas ir a mi hija ahora, ese será el final. No te buscaré, no te perseguiré, pero si no lo haces, te buscaré, te encontraré y te mataré."

"Liam Neeson would be proud." María said, taking a bite.

Gwen burst out laughing. "I thought that sounded familiar."

Peter chuckled. "Anyway." He turned to María. "I did some research. Your purple eyes are one of the rarest genetic mutations in humans. Less than half a percent of people have it."

María's eyes widened. "Wow."

Peter smiled. "And since you have powers, you should have a superhero name."

María blinked and turn a little red. "I would like that, but no puedo pensar en nada."

"Me neither." Peter admitted. "Gwen?"

Gwen leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, muttering under her breath. "I can think of a couple, but they wouldn't work for María's powers."

María got a hopeful yet hesitant look on her face. "La Fuerza?"

Gwen perked up. "The Force?"

María shook her head. "That's what it means in English, but no. La Fuerza."

Peter smiled. "I like it. Nice and simple."

María smiled and went back to her food.

The next morning, they were eating breakfast when Peter remembered something and perked up.

"Hey, María, I was thinking." He said. "Can you swim?"

"Sí."

"Good." Peter looked at Gwen. "Can she borrow one of your old suits? Swimsuits, not Spider suits."

Gwen looked at him. "Why? What do you have in mind?"

Peter licked his lips. "An air pocket."

María looked at him. "¿Cómo funcionaría eso?"

"An airtight shield with an air hole you can move and extend." Peter replied.

María thought for a moment. "That might work."

Gwen finished her toast and stood up. "We can stop at my - I mean our apartment." She rolled her eyes and looked at Peter. "I'm still not used to that."

Having finished his cereal, Peter stood up and kissed Gwen on the forehead. "Me neither." He said, embracing her. Gwen sighed and hugged him.

Gwen blushed lightly when she noticed María looking at them with wide eyes and mouthing "Awww."

"What?" Gwen mouthed.

María giggled. "Sois tan lindos juntos."

Peter looked at María, then at Gwen. "Did she just say we're adorable?"

Gwen nodded. "She said 'cute', but close enough."

Peter smiled at María. "Gracias."

"De nada."

25 minutes later they parked at the apartment building and went upstairs. Peter sat at the kitchen counter on phone while Gwen and María looked through Gwen's swimsuits. María tried on a few before choosing a simple purple bikini that fit well and wasn't particularly revealing. Heading back downstairs, they got back in the car, and Peter pulled out of the parking lot.

"So where are we going?" Gwen asked.

"The high school." Peter replied. "You remember when we were in college and I asked if you wanted to be in a short film I was making for class but you couldn't because you were on vacation?"

Gwen thought for a moment. "Kinda. Why?"

"We had one scene we filmed underwater, so I contacted the woman in charge of the swim team and she let us film there." Peter explained. "I called her while you guys were looking at suits and she said we could use the pool."

Gwen got a concerned look on her face. "What did you tell her we would be doing?"

Peter licked his lips. "Testing how long our friend can hold her breath underwater and recording it with our phones."

Gwen shrugged. "I mean that is mostly true."

"Exactly." Peter chuckled.

A few minutes later Peter pulled into the high school parking lot, and the trio headed inside, following Peter to the pool. There were four diving boards at the deep end.

"So, where do you wanna start?" Gwen asked.

María took off her shirt, shorts, and shoes, and looked back and forth between the shallow and deep ends. "Shallow."

"Okay." Peter said. "Let us know if you need help or something."

María nodded as she walked down to the end of the pool. Standing at the edge, she held out her hands and concentrated. At first nothing happened, but after a bit the water began to move as though a giant hamster ball made of steel was slowly being lowered down into it. This continued until the invisible sphere reached the bottom of the pool. The water splashed up against the side of the sphere, which protruded a few inches above the surface of the 5' deep shallow end. María pushed with her hands, and the sphere made its way across the pool, getting lower as t stayed at the bottom. The sphere stopped when it reached the 12' deep deep end. Still concentrating, María clenched her left hand into a fist, turned it palm-up, and slowly raised it. An invisible tube about a foot in diameter pushed water out of its way until it broke the surface, at which point María slowly opened her fist.

"You see the hole?" She asked, visibly struggling to maintain the air pocket she had created.

Peter and Gwen snapped out of their amazement. "Um, yeah." Peter said.

"Drop something in." María requested.

Nodding, Gwen fired a web and swung up to the ceiling. Perching upside down above the pool, she took off her shirt, revealing her Spider suit. She attached a web to the shirt and lowered it down into the invisible tube, which expanded slightly as the shirt entered it. Gwen released the web, and the shirt fell the last few feet to the bottom of the pool.

"Gracias." María said. She raised her right arm, and the air pocket moved up until it reached the surface. Gwen's shirt stayed inside the invisible sphere as María moved it above the pool, then to the side until it was above Peter. María dropped her arms, the air pocket vanished, and the shirt fell into Peter's arms. Gwen swung down from the ceiling and landed next to Peter, taking her shirt from him and putting it back on.

Gwen and Peter watched as María created another sphere, this time around herself. The water was pushed aside in a 6' diameter around María as she slipped into the pool. Her feet touched the bottom, and she began slowly walking towards the deep end. Gwen grabbed Peter's hand as María's air bubble disappeared below the surface. She seen reached the deep end, and a moment later an air hole breached the surface.

"¿Puedes escucharme?" María shouted from the bottom of the pool.

"Sí!" Gwen and Peter replied together.

A few seconds later, the air bubble started rising. It breached the surface, and María rose up out of the pool, her eyes wide with amazement as she hovered a few feet above the water. Gwen squeezed Peter's hand tightly as María floated over to them. She lowered herself down almost to the floor, then lowered her hands and relaxed her body, getting rid of the air pocket and falling the last few inches to the floor. She dropped to her hands and knees, panting.

"You okay?" Gwen asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Sí." María replied, gasping for breath. "Eso fue agotador."

Gwen blinked. "That was exhausting?"

María nodded. "I will get used to it."

Gwen reached out and hesitantly put a hand on María's shoulder. María inhaled audibly and tensed up, then closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Gwen felt the tension in María's shoulders decrease with each breath. After a long moment, María opened her eyes and looked at Gwen with a small smile.

"What you just did was incredible." Gwen said softly.

María's smile grew. "Gracias." She rose to her feet and put her clothes on. The trio walked got back in the car and drove back to the house.

They returned to the park the next day, this time combining offense and defense by sparring. Gwen and Peter started out by attacking María one at a time, and after an hour they started attacking together. Initially overwhelmed, María took a lot of hits and was knocked down several times, even requesting a couple short breaks. But each round she lasted longer, taking fewer hits and landing more counterattacks, until she was able to hold her own for over five minutes without so much as stumbling.

The following day, Saturday, Gwen, Peter, and María sat on the couch watching Whose Line is it Anyway? in t-shirts and sweatpants. They were five minutes into a new season when Gwen's phone went off. She checked the number, then walked out of the room and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Spider-Woman?" Officer Davis asked.

"Davis." Gwen replied. "What's up? How can we help?"

"Doc Ock is holed up in a bowling alley." Davis replied. "He's taken two hostages, and he says he wants to talk to you and Spider-Man and that he'll let them go when you get here."

"Did he say anything else?" Gwen asked.

"He mentioned Isabel Álvarez."

Gwen bit her lip hard. "We'll be there soon."

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Dafne Keen as María Álvarez/La Fuerza

Marina de Tavira as Isabel Álvarez

Jon Hamm as Doc Ock

Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors/Lizard

Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis


	10. Fate of the Spider-Gwen

Story © 2019 Ryan Hill

Characters María Álvarez and Isabel Álvarez © 2019 Ryan Hill

Gwen, Peter, and María arrived at the bowling alley and entered through the back door. They walked into the main bowling area and found Doc Ock sitting at one of the lanes holding a man and a woman in their seats with his claws. Doc Ock perked up when he saw them.

"Alright, you can go." He said, releasing his hold on his hostages, who quickly ran out the front door. Turning to the trio, he said "If it makes you feel any better I was never going to hurt them. I just needed to get your attention."

"Well, mission accomplished I guess." Peter replied. "What do you want?"

"To talk." Octavius leaned forward and folded his hands. "How much time do you have?"

Gwen shrugged. "A lot, why?"

Octavius signed. "I need to tell you a story for all this to make sense."

Gwen and Peter sat down at the next lane over. María hesitated, then sat next to them.

Octavius took a deep breath. "About 30 years ago I was two weeks into summer vacation after finishing my third year of college when I got called for jury duty. This wasn't the first time I'd been called - the first time had been a year and a half earlier - but that happened to be the only time in my life I've ever had the flu, so I was in no condition to even leave the house. The second time I had no excuse and I felt obligated to do my civic duty."

Octavius paused and licked his lips. "The case was between a divorced husband and wife. They had been married for 24 years, divorced for two, and had three kids; a nine year-old girl and fraternal twin eight year-old boys." He smiled to himself. "The only reason I know that is because one had brown eyes and the other had blue eyes, otherwise they were completely identical. Anyway, Mom and Dad were French-Canadian immigrants who were full citizens, and the kids were all born here."

Peter raised a hand. "Sorry to interrupt. Out of curiosity, what color were the daughter's eyes?"

Octavius chuckled. "Brown. Anyway, after two years of evenly split custody, Mom accuses Dad of child abuse. Right off the bat we were split. Mom was sympathetic; she genuinely cared about the kids, wanted what was best for them, wanted to keep them safe. More than once she held back tears."

María leaned forward. "The father?"

Octavius sighed. "He was more of a gray area. He was clearly not good with expressing his feelings, talking about how he felt, describing his emotions, that kind of thing, but at the same time he did seem to care about the kids, and not once did he ever give off any abusive vibes. Nothing he said or did came off as abusive or even like he was hiding something. What really affected the trial was the attorneys. Mom's lawyer was great, but Dad's lawyer was outstanding. The trial lasted about a month and a half. 25 witnesses testified, not including the parents, and 16 of them defended the father. When the trial started the odds were stacked against Dad 4-1. By the time we had to make our decision we were split 50/50, but we all agreed that there was no evidence of abuse by the father, so we were unanimous in that regard."

Octavius took a deep breath. "When the day came to announce our decision, Dad's lawyer said the dad wanted to make Mom an offer. The judge allowed it, and Dad's lawyer offered Mom a two week 9/5 split - for every two weeks, Mom gets the kids Monday through Friday of the first week, and Dad gets them Monday through Friday of the second week and both weekends."

There was a long moment of silence.

"That's exactly how the courtroom reacted." Octavius said. "Complete silence. Everyone was wondering why the hell the father would make an offer like that. Well, we only had to wonder for about 30 seconds before we found out."

He sighed. "Mom just erupted and started ranting. Up until that point she had always referred to the children as 'THE kids' or 'OUR kids'. During her rant she referred to them as 'MY kids'. 'They are MY children. I am their mother! It's my job to take care of MY kids. You have no right to stop me from seeing MY children.' Funny thing is, she ranted for over a minute, and not once did she mention abuse of any kind. The judge had the bailiff restrain her, and she had to be forcibly removed from the courtroom. Later I heard that the father had full custody and the mother was in prison on charges of child abuse."

Gwen leaned forward. "What's your point?"

Octavius chuckled to himself. "When that mother was ranting, I looked at her face, and what I saw scared me. She genuinely believed that she and only she knew what was best for her children, and that anything she did was necessary to keep them safe." He looked at them. "For almost 30 years that face has been in the back of my mind, occasionally haunting me. Then a few days ago I met a woman named Isabel Álvarez who asked us to help her get her daughter back from Spider-Man. She had the exact same look on her face."

He stood up. "I'm here to help. This doesn't mean I'm on your side permanently or anything like that. I'm just here to help her." He pointed at María.

Peter nodded. "So, what, you snuck out without the others noticing?"

"Hell no." Octavius pulled a detonator out of his pocket. "I just threatened them with this and they let me go."

Gwen and Peter tensed up. "You rigged explosives?" Gwen asked.

Octavius shrugged. "No. But they didn't know that. I bluffed and it worked."

Peter couldn't help but chuckle. "How long have you had that?"

"Four years." Octavius replied. "Never thought I'd actually have to use it."

Gwen folded her arms. "Okay, now what?"

Peter thought for a moment. "Either you or I tell the cops there's no danger while the others go out the back?"

Gwen shook her head. "The others should stay here so we can all leave together."

Peter stood up. "Makes sense. I'll go."

Gwen put a hand on his shoulder. "You went last time. I'll do it."

Peter nodded and sat down. "Okay."

Gwen turned and walked outside. Octavius turned to María and asked "So you have powers like your mom?"

"Sí." María reached out with her hand. A bowling ball rose up from a rack, floated over to another rack, and went down to rest on the second rack.

"Awesome". Octavius said, grinning. "Do you have a super name yet?"

María nodded. "La Fuerza."

Octavius' eyes widened. "The Force?" He chuckled. "I love it."

A moment later Gwen came back inside. "We're good to go." She announced.

The four of them walked out the back door, Octavius managing to squeeze his tentacles through.

"María!" A woman's voice shouted. The group looked to left and saw Isabel a couple buildings down storming towards them.

"Shit." Octavius mumbled. "They either followed me or got tipped off. Go."

They turned to run and saw Scorpion and Doctor Connors blocking that way. Gwen, Peter, and Octavius formed a circle around María.

"Otto?" Connors asked incredulously. "What are you doing with them?"

"Stay back Curt." Octavius warned. "I'm not letting you take the girl. If you want her you'll have to kill me."

Connors chuckled. "There's no need for that Otto, I'm not here for her. I'm here for them." He pointed at Gwen and Peter.

Octavius sighed. "I can't let you do that."

Connors blinked in disbelief. "What?"

"Any other day I'd be right beside you, but not today." Octavius replied. "Right now, besides me, these two are the only people keeping this girl safe from an abusive mother." He pointed at Isabel. "If you kill the Spiders, that psychotic bitch is two steps closer to getting her hands on this girl." He took a deep breath. "Curt, we go back a long time. You are my friend and I have no desire to hurt you, but I will kill you before I let you put María in any more danger than she already is."

"I'm sorry to hear that Otto." Connors pulled out a syringe and injected it into the stump of his left arm.

"Curt no!" Octavius shouted, but it was too late. Connors rapidly transformed into the Lizard, and he and Scorpion charged, while Isabel started walking closer. Peter tried to intercept Lizard and got tackled to the ground, Doc Ock charged to meet Scorpion head-on, and Gwen stood in front of María as Isabel approached them.

"María!" Isabel shouted. "¡Aléjate de ellos!"

Gwen took a step forward. "Señora, stay back! This is your only warning."

"¡Puta de mierda!" Isabel slammed Gwen against a nearby wall with a flick of her wrist. Gwen recovered and fired a pair of webs at Isabel, who blocked them. Isabel reached out with her arms, pulling a fire escape loose and sending it crashing down. Gwen tried to leap out of the way, but Isabel held her in place, and Gwen heard bone break when the fire escape landed on her leg.

"GAH!" She screamed, unable to move.

"NO!" Peter shouted as he webbed a trash can and hit Lizard in the head with it, sending him stumbling back.

Meanwhile, Doc Ock caught a stinger with a tentacle. He slashed with a spike, but Scorpion grabbed his upper left tentacle and ripped it off. Before Doc Ock could react, Scorpion tackled him to the ground. He brought his tail up for the final blow, then cursed under his breath and stopped.

"Fuck it." Scorpion said. "I'm not killing you over some kid." He took Doc Ock's hand and helped him up.

"Thanks." Doc Ock walked over to Gwen and lifted the fire escape off her, allowing her to crawl free, then he hurled it at Isabel, who deflected it over her head.

"¡Apartese del camino!" Isabel shouted.

"Back off you crazy bitch." Doc Ock replied. "You want her, you gotta go through me."

Furrowing her brow, Isabel reached out and took hold of Doc Ock's upper right tentacle, extending the spike. Doc Ock's eyes widened in horror as he tried to hold it back, but Isabel drove the spike deep into his temple. Doc Ock collapsed to the ground.

A few feet away, Lizard climbed off of Peter and hissed at Isabel, only to have her knock him back.

"¡Suficiente!" María cried out, a tear rolling down her cheek. "¡Nunca voy a ir contigo!"

"Yes, you are!" Isabel replied. "I am your mother and you will do as I say!"

"Never!" María lashed out with her powers, but Isabel smashed through them and forced María's arms to her sides. María screamed as she struggled in vain to overpower her mother, then suddenly closed her eyes and went silent.

A moment later she opened them, and Gwen saw more raw defiance in those purple eyes than she'd ever seen before. Suddenly María rose up off the ground, and based on Isabel's shocked expression, it was intentional. María concentrated for a moment, then kicked the air, and Isabel's head snapped back with a nasty CRACK.

Peter looked away from the body and saw Lizard and Scorpion staring in horror. "Just go." He told them. Nodding, they turned and ran.

Peter and María helped Gwen up, and the trio limped away.

Gwen, Peter, María, and May stood silently in front of a gravestone. The inscription read

HERE LIES DR. OTTO OCTAVIUS;

A MAN OF SCIENCE,

CRUSHED BY GRIEF,

CORRUPTED BY POWER.

HE DIED A HERO.

"You know, I met him and his wife once." May said, breaking the silence.

Gwen looked at her. "Really?"

May nodded. "It was when I was doing college tours with Peter. He had to use the bathroom when we were talking to Octavius, and while Peter was gone Rosalie stopped by to see Otto."

Peter perked up. "Oh yeah, I remember that now!"

May nodded. "She was such a sweetheart, and they were adorable together."

After another moment of silence, then turned and slowly walked away.

SEVEN YEARS LATER

Peter woke up in the middle of the night. The clock read 3:04 am. He and Gwen had just moved into a new apartment a month earlier, and Peter still wasn't used to their new bed. Groaning, he rolled over and saw Gwen sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey." He said, sitting up. "What's up?"

Gwen let out a small laugh. "Peter, I'm pregnant."

Peter scooted to the edge of the bed and put an arm around her shoulders. "Gwen, look at me."

Gwen looked up at him. "Yes?"

"Are you sure?" Peter asked.

Gwen nodded. "I double checked."

"Okay." Peter said. "Are you ready?"

Gwen let out a small laugh. "Yes Peter, I'm ready." She pulled him into a hug. "I'm so happy."

"Me too." Peter said as he hugged her back.

Tears rolled down Gwen's cheeks, and for once, they weren't tears of sadness.

THE END

Cast:

Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Dafne Keen as María Álvarez/La Fuerza

Marina de Tavira as Isabel Álvarez

Jon Hamm as Doc Ock

Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors/Lizard

Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Marisa Tomei as Aunt May


End file.
